Health co-pay doubles, salaries start at $42K
Teachers have contract at last, compromise pleases both sides 

VOORHEESVILLE — Both the school board and the teachers sound pleased with the teachers’ new three-year contract, which was agreed upon eight months after the old one ran out. A compromise was reached on the major sticking point — health insurance.

“I’m thrilled,” said Kathy Fiero, president of the teachers’ union, on Monday night. “I think it’s very fair for the district, the community, and the staff. We worked for a win-win scenario in health insurance.”

“Everybody’s still talking to each other,” said board Vice President C. James Coffin, a member of the negotiating team, at Monday’s school-board meeting. “It went longer than we hoped but we got things out of the way.”

“Good walls make good neighbors,” commented board President David Gibson.

The board approved the pact unanimously on March 3, and the Voorheesville Teachers’ Association vote the day before was 96 to 7, said Fiero.

The contract runs retroactively from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2010.

The old contract had expired on June 30 and teachers had expressed their frustration with an unsettled contract in January, turning out en masse to a school-board meeting.

Salary had been agreed upon. The contract offers raises, above increment, of 2.33 percent the first year, 2.02 percent the second year, and 2.18 percent the third year.

The contract has a salary schedule with 28 steps along which teachers progress each year. Under the old contract, a teacher with just a bachelor’s degree on the first step earned $38,150 for 185 days a year. On the third year of the new contract, 2009-10, a step-one teacher will earn $42,100.

Also under the old contract, a teacher on the 28th step, with a master’s degree, now required by the state, earned $80,490. On the third year of the new contract, a 28th-step teacher will earn $85,000.

Fiero had told the board in January, “The VTA’s primary goal in these negotiations was to identify areas in our contract where we do not compare favorably to other Capital Region schools and to attempt to remedy those deficiencies. Given our teachers’ — and more importantly our students’ — performance, we believe this goal is reasonable.” She also said that, “to recruit and retain a fine staff of educational professionals,” Voorheesville needs higher benefit and salary levels.

Coffin, in January, responded through The Enterprise, “Quite frankly, we made significant improvements to the bottom and middle of the salary schedule, recognizing that we need to compete and maintain our qualified staff...Everybody agrees on salary.”

He also said, “It’s damn foolishness to expect we’ll give away taxpayer money. When we negotiate a contract, we have to look at how that sets us up for the future.”

Compromise on health insurance

The stumbling block in negotiations had been health insurance.

Under the old contract, the district paid for 90 percent of individual health insurance on several different plans, and the teachers paid for 10 percent. In the first year of the new contract, the division remains the same. In the second and third years, teachers will pay 11 percent and the district will pay 89 percent of health-insurance costs.

The compromise came in the amount teachers will pay for doctors’ visits and procedures. “We agreed to raise our co-pay from $10 to $20,” said Fiero. “Raising the co-pay is a better financial return for the district,” she said. “It was a compromise. That was big.”

Assistant Superintendent for Business Sarita Winchell told The Enterprise that most Voorheesville employees use Capital District Physicians’ Health Plan (CDPHP). “The premium decreased 1.6 percent with the increase in co-pay,” she said. “Without that, it would have gone up 9.9 percent.”

She concluded, “It’s a big savings for the district.”

Winchell went on, “The teachers did get a catastrophic pool because we doubled the co-pay.”

Winchell explained that this means, if a teacher has more than 10 co-pays a year with an individual insurance plan, or more than 30 on a family plan, the district will make up the difference. 

The dental plan remains the same; the district pays 50 percent.

Also under the new contract, coaches and club advisors will get a 3.5-percent pay raise, one time only over the life of the contract. “It’s a bump-up once and then it stays that way,” said Winchell.

Additionally, the union gave up one of its two sabbatical leaves, but the district is putting aside $25,000 to meet state regulations on professional development, Winchell said.

“The overall board’s view,” President Gibson told The Enterprise this week of the contract, “is it was very reasonable. Teachers were willing to accept larger co-pays. That was very helpful.

“There’s still a substantial contribution by the district, considering the decreases in many parts of society...The compromise saved money for everyone...It was working together rather than beating each other up.”

Gibson said at Monday’s school-board meeting that, as the board’s president, he appreciates everyone being “very professional.” He went on, “There are times people disagree and get upset...but they don’t let it spill over and affect the children.”

Gibson concluded, “First and foremost has to be the welfare of the students...It makes me proud to be part of this team.”