By Tanner Kent
A handful of area school districts have ratified teacher contract agreements, beating the January rush to settle before the state-imposed deadline.
Districts that do not have settlements in place by Jan. 15 face a $25-per-pupil penalty. Statewide, fewer than one-fourth of all districts have contracts in place for 2009-11, according to records kept by the Minnesota School Boards Association.
The St. Peter School District reached its deal Tuesday after the School Board ratified a contract that included a so-called “soft freeze” on salary increases in the first year. Supt. Jeff Olson said teachers will continue to have access to step-and-lane increases, but the amount of the increases will not go up.
He also said insurance benefits for St. Peter teachers will remain at current levels with a 1.17 percent salary increase in the second year.
Olson said the total package of the contract amounted to a 4.6 percent increase. So far, the statewide average for teachers in outstate districts has been between 3 and 4 percent.
“I think at the end of the day, both sides felt we reached a fair and reasonable settlement,” Olson said.
Other area districts that have reached recent settlements include: St. James (total increase of 4.3 percent), United South Central (3.5 percent) and Cleveland (3.7 percent).
The Le Center School District, which is among the few districts in the area with the Q Comp merit-based system, also reached a settlement in which teachers will continue to receive their Q Comp pay but will not receive any increases on the amount of that pay.
And in New Ulm, Supt. Harold Remme said the district has reached a tentative agreement. He said teachers will vote on the measure next week, and if they approve, the board will vote at its Jan. 12 meeting.
If the agreement is not ratified, Remme said negotiators will “go back to the bargaining table” to reach an agreement before Jan. 15.
