FARMINGTON – SAD 9 directors unanimously ratified a two-year contract with the teachers association Tuesday. The board also set salaries for other positions.

The agreement calls for the base salary to increase, and for teachers to contribute more for health insurance.

The base salary for teachers was increased 1.8 percent in each year of the contract. For a first-year teacher, that would mean a $508 increase in base salary, Assistant Superintendent Sue Pratt said.

“We felt it was a very fair contract to both sides given our situation,” Pratt said.

Also under the new contact, teachers will pay an extra 2.5 percent of the cost of their insurance, she said.

There are now two health insurance choices: A standard plan, which is more expensive, and Choice Plus, a health maintenance organization plan.

Teachers now pay 15 percent of the standard plan and SAD 9 pays 85 percent. In the new agreement, teachers would pay 17.5 percent and the district would pay 82.5 percent, Pratt said.

For Choice Plus, teachers now pay 10 percent and the district pays 90 percent, Pratt said. Under the new contract, teachers would pay 12.5 percent, and the district would pay 87.5 percent.

The district’s budget for teacher salaries will be one-half percent less than this year, Pratt said.

The decrease is because of the equivalent of 8.5 teaching positions that were eliminated in the new budget, she said, and the turnover caused by retirements and resignations.

Directors also approved salaries and benefits for central office staff, lunch employees, the director of guidance, and the superintendent and assistant superintendent.

The guidance director Eric Gothberg was taken off the teaching rolls and given a quasi-administrative contract, which calls for 20 more contractual days, Pratt said.

His salary was set at $55,000. He will work 200 days rather than 180 under a teacher’s contract.

He will also be responsible for 20 percent of his health insurance, with the district paying 80 percent, as is the case with other administrators.

Directors gave lunch employees a raise of 21 cents per hour, Pratt said. The current range of hourly wages is $8.60 to $9.60.

The board also gave central office workers a 3 percent increase for 2004-05, she said.

Directors increased Superintendent Mike Cormier’s current salary of $84,700 by 2.67 percent as of July 1.

Pratt’s existing salary of $73,411 was increased 4.5 percent as of July 1.

The board also set a pay scale for an American Sign Language interpreter, if the district needs to hire one. The proposed hourly wage ranged from $11.50 to $20 an hour, depending on experience.

The position is a new classification under the support staff contract, Pratt said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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