Mathews teachers’ contract ratified; health benefits cut

By Jordan Cohen

The pact does contains a pay raise.

VIENNA — Mathews Board of Education has ratified a new one-year contract with its teachers that includes a small pay increase, but contains the teachers’ first premium co-payment and reduced medical coverage.

The two sides had reached a tentative agreement last week, but did not disclose it until the ratification votes Tuesday. Only three board members attended the meeting and all three voted in favor while teachers approved the agreement earlier in the day “by majority vote.”

The 66 teachers, represented by Mathews Education Association, will receive a 1.75 percent increase, but will begin paying 5 percent of their medical premiums, according to a joint statement from Superintendent Lee Seiple and Mathews Education Association President Sandra Webber. It is the first time teachers have agreed to pay a percentage of the premium and have accepted a contract of only one year.

Webber said the medical cuts were not negotiated by the board. The reductions were the result of an existing contract with Medical Mutual negotiated by the Trumbull County Insurance Consortium consisting of Mathews and several other school districts, she explained.

Webber said her group and other teacher associations are unhappy about the coverage, but have to accept it for now.

“This is why we only have a one-year contract, because we want to see what happens when coverage with Medical Mutual expires at the end of the year,” Webber said. “We hope a new health plan will work out better for us.”

The contract is retroactive to Aug. 24. Figures on the cost of the new agreement to the school district were not available.

In one other item, the board approved its new budget of more than $10.4 million, which is nearly $307,000 higher than the previous year. Treasurer Teri Andrika cited higher fuel prices for buses and energy costs for school buildings as among the reasons for the increase.