HAMPDEN, Maine — The RSU 22 board took the unusual step Wednesday night of making public some of the terms of its latest contract offer to the district’s teachers during a meeting that drew a large crowd to Hampden Academy.
According to both the teachers union and Superintendent Rick Lyons, the key sticking points are pay, health insurance and a merit-based pay adopted by the board and the union in late 2013, which many teachers said they consider demeaning and divisive.
Teachers maintain, among other things, that they are paid several thousand dollars less per year than their counterparts in Greater Bangor, according to an informational graphic posted on a Facebook page called Support Education in RSU 22. Teachers say the relatively low pay has led some to leave the district.
Despite about 20 negotiating sessions, the two sides have failed to agree on a three-year contract to succeed the one that expired last summer.
Negotiations now are headed for mediation, Lyons said Thursday. The first session is set for March 16.
Board Chairman Niles Parker addressed the conflicts in a prepared statement he read at the start of Wednesday’s board meeting. The statement, which includes a summary of the board’s final proposal, also was posted on the school district’s website.
Noting that labor negotiations normally are conducted in private, Parker said the board felt compelled to go public after some aspects of the negotiations were shared on social media.
Among the information the board revealed:
— The board’s offer called for average pay increases of 2.7 percent, 3.1 percent and 3.5 during each of the three years of the contract, which translates to an average salary increase of slightly more than $4,700.
Parker said the board also offered to reduce the number of steps on the salary scale, resulting in increased lifetime earnings, and to adjust the scale to ensure most teachers receive a step increase each year.
— The board also said it would continue to pay 100 percent of teachers’ health insurance costs and 70 percent of the cost for dependents as long as annual premiums do not go up more than 5 percent. Teachers would pay premium increases beyond that.
— Notably, the board said it would scrap the merit pay system.
Parker noted, however, that the board “is not willing to accept the notion teachers should receive an automatic salary step increase merely because they have worked an additional year.” To that end, the board proposed that teachers maintain a basic standard of performance to advance a step on the salary scale.
Finally, he noted that that the board’s financial proposals “are not made in a vacuum. We recognize we must support our teachers and remain competitive with neighboring school districts.” He said that the district can’t afford to completely revamp the salary scale in one contract, noting that RSU 22 does not have the same tax base and financial resources as surrounding districts and that it is projecting a loss of $325,300 in state aid in 2016-17.
Teachers and their supporters plan to picket from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday near the Hampden Academy entrance road on Western Avenue.
RSU 22’s member towns are Hampden, Newburgh, Winterport and Frankfort.