Bus Driver, Teacher Pacts Are Ratified

Revised provisions in the teachers' contract, including index pay, and the school bus drivers' contract were unanimously ratified by the Ann Arbor Board of Education last night. George Balas, school district business manager, noted the school bus drivers' pact was the first three-year contract negotiated by the schools. Ratification of the teachers' contract provisions included approval of a new index pay schedule. Index pay is a fee paid for extra duties such as , coaching and club advising and is a percentage of the individual teacher's base salary. The index pay for the some 100 duties performed was a renegotiated item in a two-year master contract. The entire master contract had been settled in approximately 30 sessions. Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. said because of the variety of roles involved it is difficult to generalize about the index pay provisión. He said the provisión affects more than 200 teachers and increases range from seven to nine per cent. He said there is one exaggerated increase and one decrease. "Good" and "equitable" were the familiar words used to describe the settlement. Westerman noted that besides the pay involved, the jobs were better defined. As the superintendent gave his statement voting results from the Ann Arbor Education Association were being tallied. David Harrell of the AAEA later reported to The News the teachers ratified the pact by a 621 to 242 vote. He said a simple majority is 582. There are 1,163 teachers in the association. Harrell said he feit the contract was a better agreement, but he added that as the vote indicated, it was not overly successful. He said he was encouraged, not alone by the pay settlement, but by the job definitions and the concepts of duties that evolved while the units met at the bargaining tables. In the contract with the Teamsters, who represent the school bus drivers, Balas said "little I agreement" was aired in settling the three-year pact. (The pact is set for.two years with only the hourly rate negotiable the third year.)