Brandywine District Board Ratifies Teachers' Contract Modifications

The Brandywine School District Board of Education ratified modifications to the District's teachers' contract during the action portion of the monthly workshop meeting on September 9. The meeting was held at the District Administrative Center in Claymont.

Brandywine District teachers are represented by the Brandywine Education Association (BEA), the teachers' collective bargaining group. The full contract between the Brandywine School District (BSD) and the Brandywine Education Association (BEA) was negotiated and ratified in September 2001 for three years, beginning with the 2001-2002 school year. That contract, which expires August 31, 2004, contains provisions for reopening economic issues and negotiating a limited number of other issues at the end of the 2001-2002 school year. These issues were discussed over the summer by a team of BEA representatives and a team of BSD representatives. On August 27, Brandywine teacher, ratified proposed modifications to the existing contract.

Since the state portion of teachers' salaries, which amounts to approximately 2.3 of teachers' compensation, is established by the Delaware General Assembly, local negotiations impact only a fraction of overall pay and benefits. Increases negotiated between BSD and BEA only apply to the local 1.3 protion of teacher salaries and benefits.

The modifications include:
      1. A 3.75% increase in the local portion of salaries for 2002-2003, and a 4% increase for the 2003-2004 school year.
      2. An increase in base pay of $500 for Steps 0, 1, 2, and a $200 increase for Step 3 beginning in 2003-2004.Major
          medical coverage for new hires not currently covered by the state plan, for the first three months of employment,
          beginning in 2003-2004.
     3. An additional $250 longevity increase beginning with Step 17 in 2003-2004.
     4. $1,000 in support for teachers applying for National Board Certification in 2002-2003 and $1300 in 2003-2004.
     5. Small increases in tuition reimbursement for teachers taking university classes to improve their instructional strategies.

Superintendent Bruce Harter noted "in order to fulfill our Strategic Plan's top priorities of improving teaching and learning, these modifications will help ensure that we can continue to recruit and retain the best teachers in the region."

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Brandywine School District
Board of Education
Agenda Item IV

Background: The negotiated contract between the Board of Education and the Brandywine Education Association allowed the parties to reopen negotiations for salaries and employee benefits for September 1, 2002-August 31, 2004.

Financial Implications: The new contract items include local levels of tuition reimbursement, stipend for National Board Certification, salary schedules and employee benefit levels for certificated nonadministrative employees.

Superintendent's Recommendation:
That the Board approve the language issues, and salary/benefit amounts as negotiated between the parties during collective bargaining.

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