Greencastle-Antrim contract: Teachers urge board to reconsider fact-finder's report

GREENCASTLE - Teachers in the Greencastle-Antrim school district want the school board to reconsider a state fact-finder's report and end the deadlock over a new four-year contract. 

The Greencastle-Antrim Education Association announced in a news release that teachers voted for a second time Wednesday to accept the fact-finder's recommendations. 

The school board had unanimously rejected the report at its meeting last Thursday, Dec. 7. 

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State law requires both parties to vote on the report again within 10 days after a five-day "cooling off" period if one side previously rejected it. The teachers union has completed that second vote, and the school board will vote again today (Dec. 14), according to the union's release. The meeting will be at 6 p.m. in the Greencastle-Antrim High School cafeteria.

If the school board approves the report, the district and union will have reached a settlement on a new four-year collective bargaining agreement for the 2017-2018 to 2020-2021 school years, the union's release states. 

Teachers have been working under the terms of its previous contract, which expired Aug. 31. The fact-finder is a neutral third-party appointed by the state to review the facts of contract bargaining and issue an impartial report.

The fact-finder’s report, which is now public, recommended small salary increases for four years of the contract and minimal changes to teachers’ health care plan. The recommended salary increases are affordable, according to the report, because of the district’s solid financial standing and growing fund balance.

GAEA leaders wanted to clarify some of the school board members’ misconceptions about details in the report before the board votes today. 

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“The school board points out Greencastle-Antrim teachers are the highest paid in Franklin County. This is true. But the district misses the bigger points from the fact-finder’s contract recommendations," said Ellen Kirkner, a high-school social studies teacher and president of the 180-member association.

“We want to remind the school board that many people move to the Greencastle Antrim communities because of the quality education that their children receive here. But great schools don’t just happen in a vacuum. They’re because of great teachers.”

“If it wants to maintain its reputation for providing quality education to the community’s children and retaining highly effective professional staff, the district needs to invest in its educators,” Brandon Solomon, a high-school English teacher and GAEA’s chief negotiator.”

The union said the fact-finder pointed out that the percentage of bargaining unit salary accounts has actually declined over the past six years from 45.7 percent of total instruction expenses in 2012-2013 to 40.4 percent in 2017-18.

“Much of that is because of the sacrifices teachers made when the district was going through difficult financial times due to the economic recession. But now that the district’s budget has been more than restored to a health bottom line – one could say thriving – school board members want to continue with salary freezes and cuts to health-care benefits,” Solomon added.

“What the district has proposed, according to the report, ‘the employee’ pay would not keep up with the increases in the cost of living.’”

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Additionally, the report said that the district’s budgeting reveals a prudently run fiscal organization and for the past five years, it has brought in more actual revenue than it has budgeted for. As a result, the district has accumulated a fund balance exceeded $4.6 million and so, can well afford the modest proposed salary increases, the union said in the release. 

Regarding health insurance costs, the union said the report correctly pointed out that in the last contract, the teachers offered significant savings for taxpayers. “The district’s proposal would constitute a serious alteration for a medical benefits plan that was just negotiated two years ago,” the report said. “It is too early to conclude that the plan is not controlling costs.”

The teachers and the district have been negotiating for almost a year without reaching a contract agreement in a lengthy bargaining process. The negotiating teams met 11 times before reaching an impasse and bringing in a state-appointed mediator. After they reached another impasse, teachers requested fact finding in October. The report was issued at the end of November.

“We sincerely hope the board reconsiders,” Solomon repeated once again. “We would like to start the new year fresh and focused on delivering a first-class education to our students without the uncertainty of an expired contract.”

G-A is one of two Franklin County school districts that have been involved in prolonged contract negotiations. 

After about eight months of negotiations and four planned strike dates, the school district and teachers union in Chambersburg reached a contract agreement this week.