Claremont
Gallagher said the process will now move to “fact-finding” in hopes that a resolution can be reached in time for the proposal to be presented to voters next March.
In a news release on Monday, Gallagher said the board’s latest proposal sought to bring “salaries in line with regional median values to entice new teachers and corrected the step concern to retain our current teachers.”
The specifics of the proposal are not being made public but Gallagher said they are trying to raise the starting salary for new teachers and the average salary of four categories of teachers that are based on education and experience.
“The board is trying to address the (salary) inequities,” Gallagher said Monday in phone interview.
“The Newport School Board realizes that having salaries that are not competitive with other districts in the region causes further erosion of our educational programming and services for our students,” Gallagher said in the release. “The proposal was designed to promote working conditions that would attract and then retain the best possible faculty for our children.”
Based on data from the New Hampshire Department of Education website Newport teachers have one of the lowest average salaries in the area at $44,000 a year. That figure, for the 2017-18 school year, is below neighboring districts including Sunapee ($68,800), Claremont ($46,600), Kearsarge Regional School District ($62,600) and Fall Mountain Regional School District ($55,200). Only Croydon, Cornish and Unity, which do not have high schools, pay less on average.
In March, voters rejected a one-year contract proposal but a year earlier approved a step increase of $1,240 for every teacher.
Lisa Ferrigno, co-president of the union, said on Monday that the NTA, which presented its own proposal, wants to strike the appropriate balance between raising salaries for teachers and the ability of taxpayers to pay.
“We are really concerned about any proposal that is too high (for taxpayers),” Ferrigno said.
Annual step increases, defined as increases based on another year of service, have fallen behind because of proposed collective bargaining agreements being defeated by voters.
“Not having those step increases is so detrimental to so many teachers and that is why we are trying to get back on track with the steps and also be responsible to the taxpayers,” Ferrigno said.
Some teachers, including Ferrigno, are as many as seven steps behind.
Newport school officials and board members have frequently stated that the district has trouble attracting and retaining teachers because of the pay compared to neighboring districts.
While she could not say for certain how many teachers leave for better pay, Ferrigno said the district lost 30 teachers last year and 20 the year before.
“Some did retire and some were not renewed,” she said, adding that five have left this year already. “I do know of one teacher who went to Lebanon two years ago for $20,000 more.”
Gallagher said that because of concerns about pay, the difficulty in hiring beginning teachers, teacher retention and other issues, the NTA asked to begin negotiations in August.
“After several opportunities to negotiate and a day long meditation, the Newport School Board and Newport Teachers Association were unable to agree upon contract terms,” Gallagher said in her release.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com
