After more than seven months of negotiations, the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City School Board and the teachers’ union approved an agreement for the 2007-2009 school years.

The two-year contract gives teachers a 0.8 percent increase in salary the first year and a 1.2 percent salary increase in the second year.

“I think that shows the staff’s willingness to do what’s best for the district,” said Mike McNab, teacher and union negotiator.

The teachers, who had three days to cast a vote as stated in union bylaws, voted Thursday, Friday and Monday, approving the School Board’s latest offer by a vote of 54-9.

“We needed a two-thirds (majority), roughly 42 people,” McNab said.

ACGC School Board members unanimously approved the master agreement at their meeting Monday night.

The overall increase with benefits is a 4.725 percent increase for the two years. The overall state average for teacher salary increases is 6.59 percent, according to the Minnesota School Boards Association Web site. The average teacher salary increase for outstate teachers is 6.23 percent for school districts with 51 to 75 teachers. ACGC has 61.5 part-time and full-time teachers.

“I’m pleased we were able to come to an agreement. I thank the certified staff for continuing to work with us,” School Board Chairwoman Judy Raske said. “Neither side got what it wanted. We would have liked to have seen less and the certified staff would have liked to have seen more.”

While teachers wanted more pay and the School Board wanted to pay less, the two agreed that reaching an agreement before the levy referendum May 21 was important to show unity.

“The district needs to see we’re working together and moving forward,” Raske said.
McNab agreed. “Now, we can focus on the district as a whole and the good things we do, to get a (levy) passed.”

The School Board’s negotiating committee and union representatives began meeting the first week of August. The School Board made an offer in December and teachers voted it down 52-7.

The agreement that the union and School Board ratified differs from the one the teachers rejected in December. “There’s money for more people,” McNab said of the ratified contract.

The proposal the union voted down called for a 0.8 percent salary increase for each year. “It did not address senior teachers and about one-third of our staff are senior teachers. They would have seen a $350 to $400 annual raise.

“This contract does a little more,” McNab said.

The salary increase for the second year is 1.2 percent. The extracurricular pay will increase 2 percent each year, increasing the pay to coaches and advisors for groups such as drama and speech.

“It’s not very much, but it wasn’t there in the last proposal. There are different avenues for increases to their income,” he said.

An early retirement incentive that was in the earlier proposal was increased, as well. At the time of retirement, each teacher who has served the district a minimum of 25 years and retires between July 1, 2008, and June 30, 2011, will receive a $15,000 one-time retirement incentive to be paid to the teacher’s Health Care Savings Plan.

The master agreement is retroactive to July 1.

The following are area school districts’ total package agreements with teachers:

Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 4.72 %

Dassel-Cokato 8.84 %

Eden Valley-Watkins 5.00 %

Litchfield 5.70 %

Paynesville 6.07 %

State average 6.59 %

Source: Minnesota School Boards Association Web site