Teacher Contracts 2000
NEGOTIATIONS YIELDING MORE INSTRUCTION TIME

• 117 school districts still in negotiations; but number is no cause for alarmNJSBA

• Trends include longer school days & school years

TRENTON, August 24, 2000Substantially more school boards have negotiated longer school days or longer school years in their contracts for 2000-01 than in previous years, the New Jersey School Boards Association reported today. 

According to NJSBA, 45% of teacher contract settlements for the 2000-01 school year have yielded longer days, longer years, or scheduling changes that allow teachers to spend more time with students.  Increasing instructional time has been a trend in school district bargaining in recent years.  However, contracts for the year 2000 show a substantial increase in the number of these provisions compared to 1999 and 1998 when about one-third of new contracts had such clauses. 

Local school boards are looking at the core curriculum standards that New Jersey is now implementing for its students, as well as their own educational goals, and are negotiating with teachers for additional time, explained Edwina M. Lee, NJSBA executive director.  This is an example of how school boards are using the bargaining process to directly help our childrens education. These changes will bolster teacher-student contact time or lead to more in-service training for teachers. 

Districts in negotiations.  For 2000-01, 186 of the states 589 operating districts have been negotiating new contracts. To date, 62.9% (117 of 186 districts) have not reached an agreementwhich is typical for this time of year. 

Its not unusual for a large number of districts to be in negotiations as the school year begins, said Lee. Many contracts are settled in September and October.  Students and parents should not be alarmed about the number of districts with contracts unsettled. 

Teachers, in fact, never work without a contract.  Until a new agreement is reached, the provisions of the old contractincluding all protections and benefitsremain in effect. 

The number of unsettled contracts is lower than at this time last year, when 63.4% of the school districts in negotiations (130 out of 209) had not reached agreement.  In 1998, 71.4% (or 155 of 217 districts) had not reached an agreement by mid-August. 

Settlement rates.  The average rate of salary increase for contracts settled during the past year is 4.01%, according to NJSBA.  This is a slight increase from the average raises of 3.88% found in 1999. 

Other trends in bargaining.  In addition to increases in teacher-student contact time, school boards are negotiating cost controls on fringe benefits and are taking into account the impact of the states continuing education requirement for teachers. 

• Fringe benefitsControlling the cost of fringe benefits has been a high priority in school district collective bargaining in recent years, NJSBA reports.  The Associations analysis shows that 45% of teacher contract settlements for 2000-01 include some mechanism to control health care costs, which continue to be one of the fastest growing areas of compensation.  In 1999, 47% of settlements contained such provisions, which range from requiring or increasing co-payments on prescriptions to increasing deductibles or the number of hours a part-time employee must work before receiving benefits.

• Continuing educationBeginning this school year, all teachers will be required by the state to undergo 100 hours of training every five years. The continuing-education requirement can affect teacher contracts in a number of areas, such as a teachers movement on the salary guide, the part of the budget set aside for tuition reimbursement, and additional work time.

To ensure that the professional development is geared specifically toward improving instruction, Senators Bill Schluter of Pennington and Robert Martin of Morris Plains are sponsoring the Teacher Continuing Education Requirement Act (S-1502).  The legislation would require that continuing education activities be directly related to improving teacher performance and be included in the teachers professional improvement plan, a document drawn up by the teacher and supervisor during evaluation.  In addition, the bill requires the districts chief school administrator to approve any continuing education activities that would be pursued during the school day. 

Under S-1502, a teachers license would be suspended if he or she fails to complete the 100-hour training requirement within five years, without good reason. 

The bill is awaiting a hearing before the Senate Education Committee. 

We now have a requirement that every one of New Jerseys 91,000 teachers receive ongoing training, so it is imperative to clarify the very goals of the program, said Lee.  That is why we appreciate the efforts of Senators Schluter and Martin and fully support their legislation.