Public Relations > News: Contract Negotiations > April 24th Press Release: Souderton Area School District Teacher Contract Settled

The Souderton Area School District is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with its Teachers’ Union, an agreement which closely mirrors an offer made by the Board on Labor Day in order to avoid a strike and the subsequent discord that has resulted.

This is a 4 year agreement, the first year being the current 2008 / 2009 school year, and the final year is the 2011 / 2012 school year.

The agreement is driven by the Arbitration Panel findings.  The Arbitration Panel found that the total annual compensation package includes the following:

*There are no healthcare or tuition reimbursement savings in the current, retroactive year. However the Arbitration Panel deducted 6 days pay from the first year award, which reduced the first year cost to .5%.

The Arbitration panel showed its interest and knowledge of health care insurance issues.  It crafted a solution that reflects the dramatic increase in insurance premium cost as well as reductions in benefits experienced by the taxpayers.  The predominant program for teachers in surrounding districts has slightly lower benefits than the program currently enjoyed by most of our teachers.

The Arbitrators recommended reducing the number of offerings to two plans as requested by the Board, and using a program similar to surrounding districts.  The Arbitrators required that teachers pay a slightly higher percentage of premiums each year, similar to what was sought by the Board.  There will also be an increase in life time maximum to $3,000,000.

The salary schedule has been modified in several ways.  A step was added to the top in order to soften the “Bump Step” from about 27% to about 13%.  This was done by adding a step before the “Bump Step” and deleting the starting salary step. 

The latter move made the starting salary more competitive by the end of the four year contract, a goal of the Board and a stated desire of the Union.

The Arbitrators did accept the suggestion of the Board to frame a salary schedule which would result in no pay cut to the highest paid teachers, even considering the impact of the loss of 6 strike days of pay during the 2008-2009 school year.  The Board was motivated to make this proposal as the result of its desire to ensure a settlement.

We are pleased that this strategy, along with all of our earlier efforts, has resulted in a just resolution.

Board President Bernard Currie made the following comments:
“As you can see these annual net cost percentages are in line with the expectations of a majority of taxpayers in the district.  That has been the target for the Board from the beginning.  

What saddens me most is the damage to our children’s education this year: the lack of extra help; the cessation of scholarship sensitive extra-curricular activities; and the loss of Reading Olympics in our elementary schools. 

In addition to the damage to our children I am very concerned about the damage to the reputation of our teachers.  We have a corps of very dedicated, professional teachers, the envy of other districts.  Souderton is a district where many excellent teachers want to teach.  I have been precluded from addressing this issue by the formality of the process and the labor laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but now I can tell you that we have great teachers, professionals that we value highly.  Sadly, they have been mislead, and perhaps bullied, by their negotiator and a few members of the union.  However, it is their association, and they will have to sort this out.

These issues aside, I am convinced that we have an agreement that is just for all parties.”