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Schools

Officials Praise New Teachers' Contract

A freeze on teachers' salaries in the first year of the three-year contract is a first for the town.

Officials from both the town and praised the new three-year teacher’s contract in the Office of the Town Clerk on Tuesday. 

“I think it’s a good contract,” said on Wednesday.  “I think everyone worked very hard to get to a good condition.”

The contract, which takes effect on July 1, 2012, stipulates a salary freeze for the first year of the contract—a first, according to Frank Carrano, BOE chairman, for teachers’ contracts within the town.

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“It has happened,” Carrano said of teachers’ contracts with salary freezes in other municipalities. “It’s never happened in Branford.  It’s a significant settlement in many respects, and we’re very pleased we could reach an agreement.” 

Carrano said the new contract validates the decision the board made last year not to ask for concessions from the teachers.  Honoring the board’s agreement with the teachers then, he said, put the board in a strong position to work for the best interests of the town and the board this fall. 

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This year, according to Carrano, the teachers in Branford received a salary increase of 4.73 percent.

On Wednesday, the Office of the Superintendent said Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez had not yet released the sum of money the salary freeze will generate. However, the certified salary line in this year’s education budget, which includes salaries for teachers, administrators, the superintendent and other staff with certification such as guidance counselors and social workers, totaled roughly $25 million.  

The school district business office did not immediately return phone calls seeking the sum of the salaries for teachers within that amount.

Yesterday, the Connecticut Education Association confirmed that teachers within a number of districts in the state have accepted contracts with salary freezes in response to the current challenging economic conditions.  Like Branford, according to the CEA, the contracts stipulate salary freezes only within the first year.  

What the CEA has not observed in a statewide review are hiring freezes. According to the CEA, the dollar amounts paid as teachers' salaries typically decrease when teachers retire.  Then, younger teachers who command lower salaries replace the retirees so that districts need not increase classroom sizes.

The new contract in Branford also stipulates a general wage increase of one percent in the second and third year of the contract, with a 5.73 percent increase in total three-year costs for both general wage increases and step advancements.   

In addition, provisions for health benefits increase health insurance co-pays in the second year of the contract.  In the second and third year of the contract,health insurance premium share contributions by teachers increase.  

The appeared Tuesday on branfordpatch.com.

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