1.      There are several salary-related items of interest:

 a.      The salary scale: This provides the actual salary associated with a given level of teacher experience. Historically, there have been 10 steps in the East Hampton scale. The higher the step level, the higher the salary. This number of East Hampton steps is about 20% below average. All other things being equal, the fewer the steps, the faster a teacher will progress up the scale and reach the maximum salary. The salary scale itself is an important measure of our ability to compete for new staff. In the new contract, the salary scale increased by about 3.3% per year. The number of years experience required to reach the top step was reduced from 12 to 10. This continues a trend of the last several contracts where the number of years experience has been progressively reduced. As a result, in 08-09, the number of years experience needed to reach the top step (10) will be equal to the number of steps in the salary scale itself (10). Thus, teachers eligible for step increases will now receive every year significantly larger annual raises - of the order 8%. Now that that goal has been achieved by the union, perhaps the next goal of the union may be to reduce the number of steps in the salary scale itself and to reduced the needed years experience to reach the top step correspondingly.

b.      The salary account: This is the total amount of money required to pay the salaries of EXISTING staff. The percent increase in the salary account is the fundamental item that is negotiated and usually reported when a settlement is reached.In the new contract, the salary account increased by about 4.8% per year.

c.     The actual salary increase received by a teacher as a result of any contract. This differs from either Items a. or b. The actual increase received reflects (1) the salary scale increase (i.e. the increase in the salary for a given step), and (2) the step raise received if a teacher is eligible to move up a step on the scale. In the new contract, step raises are given all 3 years. Teachers already on the top step during the period of the contract receive only  the salary scale increases noted in Item a above (3.3%). Teachers eligible for step raises receive 7.63% in the first year, 7.68% in the second, and 7.94% in the third. Those teachers moving from Step 9 to Step 10 receive even larger increases - up to 9.42% in the third year. One can speculate that this larger increase is to compensate for the lack of further step increases when Step 10 is reached.

d.      Stipends: These are additional payments for additional services such as coaching, team leaders, etc. There are about 150 of these and they currently add up to about $300,000 (or on average about $2,000 per teacher). In the new contract, stipends increase by about 3.3% each year.

e. Other Reimbursements: If a teacher volunteers for curriculum revision work, summer school, etc, the new contract reimburses them at a rate of $26 per hour (up 8.3%) the first year; $28 per hour (up 7.7%) the second year; and $30 per hour (up 7.1%) in the third year. If a teacher volunteers to substitute duty, the new contract reimburses them at a rate of $20 per class covered (up 11%) the first year; $22 per class (up 10%) the second year; and $24 per class (up 9.1%) the third year. Teachers who choose not to be covered by school-provided insurance receive up to $1,000.

f. Medical Benefits: Teacher copay for PPO medical insurance will increase from the current  13.5% to 15% for all three years. Copay for HMO insurance will increase from the current 3% to 8% in the first year  and 10% in years 2 and 3. Savings from these increases were reported to be about $100,000.

g.  Staff costs per pupil: This is determined by dividing the total salaries by the number of pupils. This is sometimes quoted to imply that salaries are too low. This is inappropriate since the value depends greatly on the experience level of the staff, the pupil-teacher ratio, the advanced degree status of the staff, as well as the salary scale of the district.

g.        Average salary: This determined by dividing the total salaries by the total number of teachers. This is sometimes quoted to imply that salaries are too low. This is inappropriate since the value depends greatly on the experience level of the staff, as well as the salary scale of the district.

 2.      Over the 6-year period of the previous 2 contracts:

 a.      The salary account increased at 1.54 times the cost of living.

 b.      The salary scale increased at 0.83 times the cost of living.

 c.      The actual salary for teachers eligible for step increases throughout the contract years increased by 34% (2.35 times cost of living).

 d.      The actual salary for teachers not eligible for any step increases (i.e. those at the top step throughout the contract years) increased by 12% (0.83 times cost of living).

Negotiated Salary Ranges for 2008-09 (third year of new contract)

                                    Step 1                                   Step 10

                  (min salary-0 yrs experience)   (max salary-12 yrs experience)

Bachelor Degree       $42,025                                 $62,154

Master Degree          $49,512                                  $73,249

6th Year Degree        $52,357                                  $77,509

Note: the current workyear is 187 days - of which 7 days are professional development days. The 7th professional development day is "self directed".

To these salaries are added any stipends received as well as other reimbursements paid for such items as curriculum revision, student evaluation committees, summer school work, and substituting for absent teachers.

Some general comments follow:

Ideally, the law of supply and demand should be the ultimate determiner of the salary a given job can command. The presence of a teachers union and tenure prevents that law from fully working. However, when all is said and done, a good measure of the appropriateness of any salary can still be obtained by answering the simple question: If vacancies occur, will the salary offered be competitive enough to attract qualified applicants?

1.      Based on the data available to Common Sense, the East Hampton salary scale indeed.appears to be quite competitive.

 2.      Relative to our State-defined Education Reference Group of towns (ERGD) (which, on average, is wealthier than E. Hampton) our 2000-01 starting salaries (Step 1) were 7 to 16% above average. Our top salaries (Step 10) were 2% below average. Relative to Middlesex County towns our starting salaries were 5 to 18% above average while our top salaries were 0.5 to 2.5% below average. While our top salaries are slightly below average, our higher starting salaries more than compensate (because the time-value of money provided early in a teachers career can amount to tens of thousands of dollars over the career) and must be considered in any evaluation.

 3.      Regarding comparing teacher compensation with that of various trades and professions: The teacher association is neither fish nor fowl. It desires the benefits and stature of a profession but acts like a union. The value of items such as tenure, automatic raises, equal raises for all, shorter work year, multitude of stipends, etc. must be accounted for in any such comparisons.

 4.      Regarding comparing our raises with those offered by other towns: It appears that our salary scale is already quite favorable. Keeping up with other towns should not be the issue - we are already ahead of them.

 5.      The issue of teacher shortage may be raised to justify increases. As yet we have had no trouble filling vacancies with qualified candidates. Our well above average starting salaries already make us quite competitive. 

 6.      Professional development days may be added to the work year in order to justify a higher negotiated salary account percent. This was done in 1999 when a 7^th professional day was added (and a self-directed day at that) to help "sell" a 4%+ increase to the salary account. These days cost over $300,000 a year at that time. The cost-effectiveness of these days needs to be examined. One wonders what the reaction would be if the BOE proposed reducing the workyear by eliminating some professional days and reducing compensation accordingly. Or alternately, what would the reaction be to converting some of the existing professional days to classroom teaching days with no change in compensation. Finally, the question arises as to how often new teaching techniques occur that require every staff member to "retrain" every year?

 7.      If a salary scale percent increase greater than the cost of living in negotiated, it is hoped that some significant and measurable gain is obtained by the BOE.

 8.      Finally, it is our understanding that State binding arbitration law considers any undesignated fund balance above 5% of the budget as one factor indicative of a towns ability to pay for a contract settlement. Other factors related to the town needs that may be on the horizon (e.g. a water system) ostensibly are also to be considered. In reality, it appears all that matters are other settlements in the education community around the state.