LIVERMORE FALLS – SAD 36 directors have approved two-year contracts with three groups representing teachers, custodians and bus drivers, and food service workers, interim Assistant Superintendent Dave Bois said Monday.

The pacts call for bus drivers and custodians, and food service workers to get a 3 percent increase each year of the agreement, Bois said.

Those contracts run from July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2011.

Health insurance contributions remained the same as the current contract and health insurance costs did not increase, Bois said.

Under the current contract for bus drivers and custodians, the district pays 95 percent of the cost for medical insurance for a single plan, 85 percent for an adult-child plan, two-adult plan or family plans.

The current food service workers’ contract has the district paying 95 percent of a single standard plan and 100 percent of a single choice-plus plan.

Food-service employees choosing the adult with children plan, a two adult plan and family plan pay 50 percent of insurance costs, according to the contract.

In the new teachers’ contract, the overall total salary increase is about 3.24 percent for the first year and 3.12 percent for the second, he said.

“The interesting thing about this is if teachers had not signed a new contract and we stayed with the current contract scale, it would be a 2.78 percent increase,” Bois said, during the first year.

A new salary scale was adopted, he said, and the new contract really represents the difference between 2.78 percent and 3.24 percent, he said.

Under the new contract because of the salary scale, not everybody will get the same increase, Bois said.

“We’re trying to move toward a scale that is consistent spacing between steps,” he said. “In fairness to teachers, they did not say we want a 3 percent increase over what we have. They really got a .46 percent increase,” Bois said.

During the last contract negotiations, the existing pay for starting teachers was raised from a minimum of $27,000 to $30,000, as mandated by the governor each time. It also compressed a salary schedule from 35 years to 20 years.

Under the new contract, the salary scheduled calls for a minimum starting pay of $30,900 for the 2009-10 year and $31,500 for 2010-11 year.

Health insurance contributions stayed the same as the current contract, Bois said.

The current contract calls for the district to pick up 90 percent of the cost of health insurance and teacher to pick up 10 percent.

The teachers’ contract runs from Sept. 1, 2009, to Aug. 31, 2011.