| Bloomington reaches agreement on new teacher contract
Jan. 12, 2010
Bloomington Public Schools and the Bloomington Federation of Teachers (BFT) have reached an agreement on a new two-year contract for the district’s 700 licensed teachers.
The Federation’s teachers ratified the agreement late Monday afternoon, and the Bloomington Board of Education followed suit several hours later as part of its regularly scheduled meeting.
The first year of the contract calls for an equal distribution of the funds the District budgets for the automatic salary increases tied to years of experiences, or “steps.” This results in a payment of $1,465 for each teacher for the current school year, but no actual step advancement.
The second year includes a one percent increase in salaries, in addition to salary increases for traditional steps and lane (additional educational coursework) changes. The contract also calls for continuing to share savings resulting from health insurance reform.
The District is offsetting the salary increases with over $2 million in savings generated from moving all employees to a self-funded High Deductible Health Plan nearly three years ago.
“The BFT recognizes these are difficult economic times in our state and community. We also understand the need for the district to be in a position to withstand future state budget woes,” said Wendy Marczak, president of the teacher’s union. “This agreement is reasonable and within the budgetary constraints set by the school board. Further, it represents another way in which the union and district have worked cooperatively on managing the costs health insurance for all district employees.”
Superintendent Les Fujitake said the settlement “fits within our long-range financial plan.” |
