Cliff Buchan
News EditorA two-year teacher contract retroactive to July 1, 2003 is now on the books in ISD 831.
Representatives of the school district and the Forest Lake Education Association, the teachersí union have now ratified a settlement offer reached last month.
A 6-0 vote by the school board Monday followed a March 23 vote by FLEA members that saw a 315-73 vote to approve the agreement.
The agreement provides teachers with a two-year salary schedule improvement of 3.62 percent, including 2.38 percent retroactive to the 2003-2004 school year and 1.24 percent in the upcoming 2004-2005 school year.
The agreement also provides an increase of 1.7 percent for health insurance coverage over the two-year period.
The salary schedule and health insurance contribution is a combined two-year 5.32 percent benefit increase for teachers.
In terms of dollars, the bulk of the increase comes in the 2003-2004 school year.
According to a structural balance resolution approved by the school board on Monday, the district will take additional costs of $1,182,484 in the current school year.
The base cost for salary and benefits will increase from $30,205,929 in the 2002-2003 school year to $31,388,413 in the current school year that ends on June 30, 2004.
For the school year opening on July 1, the district anticipates total costs for teacher salary and benefits to increase to $31,941,668. The dollar increase over the 2003-2004 school year is $553,255, according to the resolution.
The new contract would pay a first-year teacher a starting wage of $28,060 for the 2003-2004 school year.
In the second year of the proposal, a first-year teacher at the starting lane would earn $28,200.
The contract salary schedules provide 13 steps for teachers. A teacher at the 13th step with a master of artís degree plus 60 credits would earn $54,951 in the first year of the contract and $55,851 in the 2004-2005 school year.
Under the contract the district will pick up an additional $50 a month for medical and health insurance premiums starting in the second year of the contract.
The contract will also provide teachers longevity pay at the 14th, 16th, 20th and 25th years of service to the district.
The settlement impacts approximately 497 teachers working in the district this year. The structural balance resolution takes into account the districtís plan to reduce the teaching staff by 25 positions next year because of budget concerns.
The 497 teacher total will fall to 472 for the 2004-2005 school year, according to the resolution.
The document also takes into account no anticipated state aid increases and the anticipated decrease in total revenues due in part to falling student totals. The arrival of a public charter Spanish immersion school in Forest Lake this fall is the reason for the bulk of the loss of students, officials said Monday.
Larry Martini, director of business affairs for the district, told the school board Monday the settlement fell within board parameters.
As part of the settlement, the school district agreed to reduce the number of duty days for teachers by one day effective in the 2004-2005 school year. One teacher work day will be dropped, lowering the number of duty days to 187.
Teachers new to the district work 191 days or four additional days than returning teachers.
The change does not impact student contact days.
The school district backed away from an earlier proposal to freeze lane changes and steps for teachers. Both points were strongly opposed by teachers during bargaining.
The new contract also amends the language as it relates to military leave and compensation. Under the new language, the district agrees to cover the difference between the teacherís rate of pay and the pay for active military service.
The issue was brought to light with the recent deployment of Forest Lake High School teacher and coach Bob Dettmer. A chief warrant officer in the Army Reserves, Dettmer spent nearly two years on active duty and served in the Gulf War with an intelligence unit.
The contract also provides full-time teachers with 15 sick leave days for each year of service. Employees hired prior to Jan. 1, 1987 will be allowed to accumulate a maximum of 345 days through fiscal years 2005-2006, 320 days through fiscal years 2010-2011 and 285 days beyond fiscal years 2011-2112.
Teachers with less than five years of experience are credited with one personal leave day each year while teachers with five or more years of service received two personal leave days.
Full-time teachers with 15 or more years of experience received three personal leave days each year.
A teacher severance plan that utilizes unused sick leave pay now carries a maximum school district obligation not to exceed $800,000 in any one fiscal year.
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