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Teachers in the Hempfield School District have a new contract, and it came seven months early.
Hempfield Education Association and Hempfield school board voted in separate meetings Tuesday to approve the new four-year pact for the 520 members of the Hempfield teachers' union.
The agreement will provide teachers with an annual pay increase averaging 3.725 percent over four years and require them to pay more out-of-pocket for health care coverage. The new contract will begin July 1, 2010, and end June 30, 2014.
At the union meeting, 96 percent of the teachers voted in favor of the contract, HEA chief negotiator Curt Rogers said.
At the school board meeting, 8 members voted yes, but board member Daniel K. Forry voted no.
Forry said he did not agree with the amount of the pay increase. The state has capped the school district's ability to raise property taxes next school year at 3.4 percent, he said. Also, the national unemployment rate has hit 10.2 percent.
"It's time for our teachers to get in contact with the real world," Forry said.
The current starting salary for a teacher in the school district is $43,856. In the 2010-11 school year, the starting salary will rise to $44,681.
Rogers said, "We are very happy with the pay increase we received."
Hempfield school officials said that the 3.725 percent average increase is in line with increases seen in other new contracts around Lancaster County.
In September, the Cocalico School Board approved a five-year contract that provides teachers with an average annual pay increase of 3.78 percent. Columbia Borough and Pequea Valley school districts approved pacts recently that will boost salaries for their teachers by 3.5 percent to 3.8 percent annually over the next four to six years. Eastern Lancaster County, Elizabethtown and Donegal school districts are still in negotiations.
The terms call for Hempfield teachers to pay more for the medical coverage. This change also follows recent trends in contract negotiations.
In the Hempfield pact, teachers will have a three-tier prescription plan instead of two tiers. They will have higher co-pays for some of their prescriptions.
Like other recently negotiated contracts, spouses who have health care available to them through their employers will not be able to enroll in the district plan. Teachers also will pay more per month for their dental benefits.
Hempfield teachers also will receive an increase in professional pay, the hourly pay they earn for projects such as curriculum writing. The professional rate had stayed the same for 10 years, Rogers said. Teachers also will receive more flexibility in their personal days.
Hempfield teachers and officials worked on the new contract for the past year. Neither side had their attorneys present.
Jason Ohrel, HEA president, said the process was "open and honest."
Superintendent Brenda Becker and board president John Kleimo said the negotiations were "fair and respectful."
