PORTLAND (AP) – Maine’s school consolidation law, hailed as a way to hold down the costs of school administration, is slated to trigger pay increases for some teachers.
School districts that are preparing to merge as a result of the Baldacci administration initiative enacted in June often have different teacher pay scales that would need to be equalized.
For example, Messalonskee’s SAD 47 pays its teachers an average of $3,650 more per year than those in Waterville now receive. So when the districts are consolidated, Waterville would need to increase its salaries.
“If you took my teachers in Waterville and you place them on Messalonskee pay, it is almost $1 million to make that happen. That is a serious cost,” said Eric Haley, Waterville school superintendent.
While the law provides that existing labor contracts for teachers remain in effect until they expire, the individual teacher bargaining units will merge to negotiate a new contract. Most school and union officials agree that where pay scales are significantly different, the higher levels will prevail.
State Education Commissioner Susan Gendron says the roughly 80 regional districts that emerge as a result of the consolidation law should be able to meet any pay increases that result.
About 150 of the state’s 290 district now spend some of the money they receive from the state for teachers’ salaries on other budget items, such as materials or transportation, she said.
“There is money in their allocations that would support higher salaries now,” said David Connerty-Marin, education department spokesman.
The prospect of higher salaries has led to teacher support for the consolidation measure, which was greeted with skepticism by school officials and administrators.
The executive director of the Maine Education Association, which represents most of the state’s teachers, said merging teacher contracts is not expected to be easy.
Mark Gray said the increased costs of putting all of the teachers in a new regional school district on the same pay scale will require a lot of discussion and negotiation.
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Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com
AP-ES-10-21-07 1212EDT
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