PARIS — The Oxford Hills Education Association has ratified a three-year contract that calls for cost-of-living and step increases in pay.

“Things went well. Both sides came out of it happy with the results,” School Administrative District 17 Director Barry Patrie said. He chairs the board’s negotiation team, which approved the contract in August.

The total increase in wages over the three-year period is $1.33 million, according to Superintendent Rick Colpitts.

The wage increase is 2.90 percent in the first year of the contract, which pays for the cost of realigning steps, and equals $384,716. There is no salary increase on top of the step adjustment for the first year.

The salary scale adjustments included putting the cost of living at the top of the scale, allowing all other steps to fall from that adjustment and eliminating steps 23 through 25.

A salary step is an incremental increase in salary based on previous qualifying professional experience.

The second year calls for a 3.43 percent pay increase costing $468,007. It’s a 1.75 percent increase at the top step.

In the third year, there is a 3.39 percent pay increase, or a 1.75 percent increase at the top step. The cost is $478,462. 

The pay scale was also modified to allow for a smaller annual step increase of $1,050 instead of the previous biennial step increase of $2,224. This was considered a “high priority” on the teachers’ “must have” list, according to Colpitts.

The new contract also:

* Clarifies when and how interviews will be provided to teachers who wish to apply for a different position within the district.

* Limits access to the sick-pool bank for new hires. They must be employed for 11 weeks to be eligible to apply for sick pool.

* Changes the attendance incentive so employees who don’t use personal leave may receive incentives up to $150.

* Extends the notification for using personal leave from one day to three days in advance of taking leave.

* Provides that unpaid leaves of absences will be approved by the superintendent, whose decision is final.

* Provides teachers pursuing national board certification access to the budgeted district tuition funds to cover the cost of the assessments.

* Changes how reduction in force will be accomplished. When the board decides a reduction in force is necessary, academic preparation, certification, teaching experience, performance evaluation and seniority will be used in the selection process. Formerly, seniority was given a priority in reduction of force decisions.

* Clarifies that when terminated due to a reduction in force, teachers will be on the recall list for two years from the date of the individual’s contract termination. Formerly, teachers remained on the recall list for two years after the bargaining agreement terminated.

* Introduces two lower-cost higher-deductible health plans.

* Clarifies when teachers are compensated for attending student individualized education plans that meet after the end of the regular school day.

Collective bargaining successful

Negotiations between the Oxford Hills Education Association and SAD 17 directors began in January after the association and directors ratified a one-year contract in September 2015, in what was described by Patrie as essentially a one-year extension of the previous three-year contract which expired June 30, 2015.

That one-year extension provided a 2.25 percent increase in base salary, according to Colpitts. The previous three-year contract gave teachers a base pay increase of 2 percent in the first year and 2.25 percent in the second and third years, reduced the annual costs of steps and boosted the starting teacher pay from $27,797 to $30,600.

At the end of the one-year extension contract, both sides agreed to come back to the negotiating table to resume talks for a three-year contract.

Julie Gomez, president of the Oxford Hills Education Association, said Wednesday that the collaborative bargaining process was successful.

“The negotiating teams of the Oxford Hills Education Association and the MSAD 17 board of directors worked very hard throughout the last school year to negotiate a contract that is fair and in the best interests of the students, teachers and communities of Oxford Hills,” Gomez said in a statement Wednesday.

“We used a collaborative process in our negotiations and although the process can sometimes take longer, it went smoothly,” Gomez continued. “OHEA and the board tackled issues and came to solutions together. The result is a three-year contract that the teachers and board overwhelmingly voted yes to ratify.”

Patrie agreed. “Yes. I think a year ago I wouldn’t have said it, but this year we had two sides committed to doing it properly and it worked,” he said.

The district began using collaborative bargaining in 2007 to avoid what had historically been an adversarial relationship between the two sides. Previously, the two sides would meet in separate rooms and a representative would list the issues and demands. He or she would then go back and forth with questions and demands.

The current collaborative problem-solving bargaining process allows both sides to come to one table after agreeing on what the issues are and then resolve them with the understanding that they each want to provide the best education for a reasonable price.

ldixon@sunmediagroup.net

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