Mt. Laurel teachers began the new school year on Sept. 4 with a new collective bargaining agreement after the board of education and Mt. Laurel Education Association approved a three-year contract earlier in the week. The new contract takes effect retroactive to July 1 and runs through June 30, 2017.
Board member Diane Blair chaired the negotiation’s committee for the school board. She said both sides made concessions to reach the agreement.
The agreement includes a total pay increase of 7 percent for the teachers through the term of the agreement. To offset the pay increase, the MLEA made concessions on health benefits. The teachers reduced their opt-out allocation and added a voluntary health-care plan. The concessions will allow the district to stay within the 2 percent tax increase cap over the next three years.
Members of the school board said the agreement had a fair representation of ideas from both the district and the MLEA.
“This is a deal that is fair to both sides,” board member Marc Jones said.
MLEA President Doug Bozarth echoed Jones’ statements about the agreement.
“The entire negotiations team is thrilled with the agreement we were able to reach with the Board of Education,” Bozarth said in an email. “We feel we achieved a fair settlement given the current economic times and restrictions placed on such bargaining procedures.”
Bozarth added it was important to the MLEA to reach an agreement before classes began. The MLEA approved the agreement during a meeting on Sept. 2, with 436 out of 450 members voting in favor of the new contract.
During a special meeting on Sept. 3, the board of education voted 8–0 in favor of the contract. Board member Scott Jones was absent.
The two sides reached a tentative agreement during the final week of August after about eight months of negotiations. Blair said there were a number of disagreements over the course of negotiations, but relations between the two sides were never hostile.
“All of our meetings were progressive, and even points of disagreement were handled with open discussion and an exchange of facts,” she said.
Superintendent Antoinette Rath said the district has a very solid relationship with the MLEA, helping to make the negotiations go as smoothly as possible.
“Not all school districts can say the same thing,” she said.
“The negotiations team, led by Len Barker, feel that the negotiations process was a productive one,” Bozarth said. “The Mt. Laurel Education Association continues to have a positive working relationship with the Board of Education.”
