Canfield board OKs new contract

Teachers ratified the contract 155-22.

staff report

CANFIELD — The school board has approved a three-year contract with its 197-member teachers union that includes pay raises of 2.5, 2.75 and 3 percent and increased employee contributions to health care.

The district is unique in the area in having had a 5 percent employee contribution to health care from teachers for more than 30 years, said Superintendent Dante Zambrini.

The new contract, approved at the school board’s special meeting Thursday afternoon, increases that contribution to 6, 7, and 8 percent, with 8 percent being the final year of the contract in 2011. The contract begins Sept. 1, 2008.

Contract language adjustments include an increase in pay for after-hours work from $20 to $25 per hour.

It also includes teachers agreeing to spousal coordination of benefits, which requires an employee’s spouse to join the insurance plan offered at the spouse’s place of employment — at least at the single-coverage level — if such coverage is offered for $300 or less per month.

The contract raises base pay for a new teacher with a bachelor’s degree to $32,131 in the first year, $33,015 in the second and $34,005 in the third.

It raises pay for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree with the top level of experience — 24 years — to $56,872 the first year, $58,437 the second year and $60,189 the third year.

It raises the pay for a teacher with a master’s degree at the top experience level to $64,905 the first year, $66,690 the second year and $68,690 the third year.

Teachers ratified the contract 155-22 on Monday, Zambrini said.