MECHANIC FALLS – The Mechanic Falls School Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to accept a new three-year contract for teachers, raising salaries to a level more comparable with other small towns across the state.
The ease with which this decision was agreed upon was in contrast to the controversy that surrounded the previous bargaining agreements for the 2002-2005 contract.
Teachers went without a new contract for the first half of 2003-2004 because they were not able to reach agreements with school officials and School Committee members about changes to salaries and health benefits.
“This is the most pleasurable negotiation I have ever been in,” said School Committee member Joyce Crane.
Salary adjustment is among the eight changes in the 2005-2008 contract. Before drafting the contract, school officials looked at teachers’ salaries in 16 other towns.
They discovered that Mechanic Falls paid its teachers an average of 6 percent less. The new contract closes the gap over the next three years.
Teachers will receive a 3 percent increase next year, then increases of 4 percent in each of the following two years.
For example, a teacher with a bachelor’s degree and 10 years of experience will be paid $30,660 next year, $31,770 the following year and $32,930 the year after.
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