Teachers' Pay Hikes Close To Their Goal

The negotiating teams for the Board of Education and the Ann Arbor Education Association today revealed terms of the tentative twö-year contract agreement reached early yest e r d a y m-0 r n i n g after 8V2 months of bargaining. Precise cost figures for the two-year package are not yet available, but in 1968-69, the salary for teachers vvith a BA Idegree and no experience would be raised from $6,000 to $6,500. The maximum pay for a teacher with a BA would be increased from $10,140 t o $10,700. The starting pay for a teacher with an MA degree would jump from $6,300 to $7,100, while the maximum for a teacher with an MA would be raised from $11,070 to $12,000. The BA and MA minimum salaries are nearly identical with those proposed in June by the AAEA bargainérs. They requested a $6,500 minimum salary for a teacher with a BA and a $7,150 minimum salary for a teacher with an MA. During the 1969-70 school year, the BA starting salary would increase to $7,000. The maximum salary for a teacher with a BA would be raised to $11,235. The minimum MA salary in ,1969-70 would be raised to $7,630, while the maximum salary for a teacher with an MA would jump to $12,600. School Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. indicated today the teacher package can be comfortably financed, by the school district. The aJnent is "fea=ible " he sai Jüd woiild jiol r e q u i r e major program changes." He did not elabórate on possible sources which will be tapped to finance the package. During 1960-69, the teachers' fringe benefit package wouk include a $10 monthly payment which can be applied to various insurance options. This sum is identical to the amount pak last year. In 1969-70, however fully paid family health insur anee would be available to eacl teacher. The super-maximum pay' ment, formerly a merit raist for veteran teachers, will b( solely a longevity payment, i) the contract is approved. The 5600 payment would be made during the 13th and 16th years of teaching in all categories of the salary schedule during 196869. Longevity payments would be] completely terminated after the 16th year. In 1969-70, longevity payments would begin during the llth year of teaching, instead of the 13th. During the second year of the contract, there woüld be no longevity payment for teachers with a BA degree at the 16th step. The "agency shop" provisión has been retained in the tentative new contract. This provisión states that, as a condition of employment, teachers must either join the Ann Arbor Education Association or pay fees equal to the membership dues. [Last February, seven Ann Arbor teachers refused to fulfill 'the agency shop clause and filed suit in the Washtenaw Circuit Court charging the provisión is illegal. No decisión has been rendered. AAEA President Harold Collins said in the event a teacher is fired by the board for refusing to comply with the agency shop provisión, the association has agreed to pay the board the equivalent of one-half of the teacher's back pay, if the judge rules in favor of the teacher. (The board then would be forced to re-imburse the teacher for all of his back salary.) Class sizes and teacher workload would be nearly identical with the provrsions of last year's contract, Collins said. Improvements in these areas, he added, would be "goals." The two-year contract stipulates, however, that class sizes will be no larger than during the 1967-68 school year. Collins said all other details of the tentative contract were hammered out yesterday during a bargaining session b e t w e e n school board and AAEA representatives. ''All negotrations have been completed," he said. According to the terms of the new contract, representatives of the' board and AAEA will meet monthly - beginning one month after ratification- to discuss implementation of the contract and to review various items. "We consider this an exceptionally important clause," Collins said. Several other non-economie items which have been written into the new contract include the establishment of several joint (AAEA and Board of Edul catión) study committeea between 1968 and 1970, tol review such items as discipline! policy and a lunch period forl the junior high faculty; anl agreement by the Board ofl Education to furnish all teach-l ers with a written discipline] policy by the second semester, and a "firm commitment" during the 1968-70 school year to provide "released time" to teachers of kindergarten through third grades íor a daily coffee break. Spokesmen for both sides expressed pleasure at the tentative two-year contract, the first multi-year contract ever to be nJgotiated in the Ann Arbor School District. The tentative contract still must be ratified by both the Board of Education and the AAEA membership before it becomes binding. Collins said .he "visualizes no difficulties whatsoever" in obtaining ratifi-j catión of the contract. Collins said copies of the con-l tract will be printed and mailedl to all teachers as soon as possi-J ble, probably by next Friday. jJ mass ratification meeting ia itentatively scheduled on or aftl er Aug. 29, he said. A majority vote is necessaryl If o r ratification. There arel lapproximately 900 teachers inj khe Ann Arbor Education Asso-J ciation. I Collins said the Negotiatingl [Team Advisory Committee voted last night to instruct allí school personnel- such a s coaches, and counselors- who normally report to work early to do so. Earlier, these teachers had voted not to return to school early unless instructed to do so by the negotiating team.