"We are fortunate to have them," said the superintendent of the team members she works with.

Councilman Alfred Field voted against setting several salaries and wages, explaining that he does not feel Westerlo can afford raises along with surging insurance costs.

Many aids and monitors work part-time for the school district just to get health insurance for their families, according to a Guilderland negotiator. For their next contract, the unit's president says, they will push for health benefits after retirement.

Unanimous votes on both sides ushered in three-year pact for six Guilderland administrators with a raise the district's negotiator called "modest" — 1.5 percent each year.

Perhaps feeling the pressure of several years of budget cuts, the formerly cohesive Guilderland School board, functioning under new leadership, has been deeply divided on small issues of pay.