District Teachers Ratify New Contract; Helps Budget Stay Under Tax Cap

For the last month, administrators and the district's seven bargaining units have discussed renegotiating their contracts to help the district reach its goal of staying within the two percent tax cap for the 2012-13 budget.

The district took a big step toward achieving that goal after the district's largest bargaining unit, the Teachers' Association, recently voted to ratify a new four-year agreement. According to district officials, 80 percent of the teachers voted for the new contract.

 “The district administration and Teachers’ Association have come together in negotiating changes to their bargaining agreement that will allow the district to put forth a budget for the 2012-13 school year without any cuts to programs or services," Johnson said. "Ratification by the membership of the Teachers’ Association shows the support we have from our instructional staff in keeping our programs and staff intact and keeping the quality of education for all students as the number one priority."

Viri Pettersen, the Rockville Centre Teachers’ Association president, said that the teachers' amenability to a new contract shows they care about the students and residents.

“The Rockville Centre Teachers’ Association realizes the current economic climate has severely impacted families across the United States, including our community," she said. "We worked proactively to ensure that our district maintains the level of educational integrity for which we have always strived, and arrived at a smart and fair agreement for all stakeholders — one that results in significant taxpayer savings, addresses the tax cap, keeps class size intact and saves our members’ jobs.”

The district's office staff have also ratified a new four-year contract. The teachers' aides, nurses and administrators are still in negotiations; their contracts are up June 30. CSEA are also still negotiating, but their contract is not up until June 30, 2013.

School officials said security guards are still in negotiations as well, but their contracts ended in June 2011.

If the district presents a fiscal plan that stays within the two percent tax cap, it would need 50 percent of voters to approve it. Under the new tax cap law, if the budget is defeated twice, the district must adopt a contingency budget with a zero percent increase.

The Board of Education will meet on April 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the high school.