School Board Releases Teacher Contract Proposals

The West Chester Area School Board released its proposals for the new district-wide teachers' contract on Tuesday. 

According to a statement from the board president Vincent Murphy, "The public is ultimately paying for the contract between the District and its teachers – once an agreement is reached. Therefore, we believe the public needs to understand what is in the proposals."

The proposals focus on several areas including "reasonable pay increases linked to performance," insurance cost sharing and "restraining the cost of escalating retirement costs."

Under this proposal teachers would receive salray raises at a rate of 3.82 percent over the first two years of the contract, and in the third year the teachers would receive a $1,500 bonus if combined real estate assessment growth exceeds 2.6% between 2012-2014.

The proposal also states that teachers that received an unsatisfactory performance review would not receive raises.

The propsal claims that under the new plan the average teacher salary in the district would increase from $67,800 per year to $71,200 per year.

Under the board's proposal the district would also pay for the majority of teachers' health insurance with that percentage decreasing each year.

In the first year the board proposes to pay 90 percent of insurance costs with that number falling to 80 percent by the contract's end.

The proposal also includes measures to decrease the cost of providing health insurance to retired district teachers.

The proposal reads:

The Board’s “A Blueprint for Balancing Achievement and Affordability” proposal aims to adjust the current level of Retiree Benefits consistent with the community members who fund the contract.

According to the proposal, employees would be switched from defined benefit plan to "a defined contribution plan in the amount of $5,000 per year for the lesser of 4 years or Medicare Eligibility."

To read the complete proposal please see the attached PDF.