UASD negotiators reach contract agreement
?After 19 months of negotiations, a contract agreement in the Uniontown Area School District has been reached that will afford some movement for lower step educators and a change in the health care plan.
School board members voted 8-1 during a special meeting Monday to approve the new agreement. Prior to the school board meeting, the teacher association also accepted the new contract, according to district officials.
The terms of the three-year contract state that teachers up to step 15 will receive a halfstep movement retroactive for the 2010-11 academic year. For 2011-12 and 2012-13, teachers up to step 15 will receive an increase of three percent of the payroll. Teachers over the 15-year mark will receive no increase for 2010-11 and 2011-12, but will receive $500 in year three of the contract.
Director Lloyd Williams, who originally passed on the vote, but ultimately approved, said the contract will affect the district’s budget drastically next year.
“We will spend a million more next year than this year because of this contract,” Williams said. “We will have to come up with that money. We can’t afford to tax people into the Laurel Highlands School District. If we raise taxes, we are taxing people out of the city and into the closest area with lesser taxes.”
The new contract also offers teachers a lesser insurance plan that will require them to have higher co-pays and deductibles. According to Director Thomas George, teachers will not be required to contribute to the premium and the district will save about $190,000 this year on the total premium.
Along with Williams and George, directors Ken Meadows, Terry Dawson, Paul Bortz Sr., Philip Holt, Vincent Winfrey and Bill Rittenhouse approved the agreement while Director Bill Gerke opposed.
Gerke said his vote wasn’t against the teachers, but instead he feels the new contract is unfair to the teachers in the long run.
“We had money in the budget we passed last week for one year for the teachers. We are not prepared to take care of our teachers the next three years,” he said. “It’s just bad business to make commitments we can’t keep. We are going to struggle with the budget next year because we have no idea where we are going to get this money. It’s not fair to have to possibly furlough more next year because we can’t afford to keep them after we hired them and made that commitment.”
Barb Mildren, outgoing president of the teacher’s union who served for most of the negotiations, said the association had no comment regarding the new agreement as of press time, but plans to make an official statement 9?a.m. Tuesday at the central administration building on Church Street.