Teachers OK new contract Great Meadows union approves four-year deal with average 4.3% raises. Friday, September 22, 2006 • BY LYNN OLANOFF • The Express-Times After more than 14 months without a contract, Great Meadows Regional School District teachers have a new contract giving them pay raises averaging 4.3 percent over four years. The district's 88 teachers overwhelmingly approved the contract Wednesday, union co-President Lisa Baatz said. "Our negotiating team worked very hard and they did an extraordinary job for us," she said. "A really long, drawn out job." The school board approved the new contract Aug. 28 with a 7-2 vote. The contract gives 4.1, 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5 percent annual raises retroactive to July 2005. The contract also requires that teachers pay a deductible for dental work and increases their limits for catastrophic health care. The benefits changes will save the district $52,000, district officials said. The district pays about $2 million toward health benefits, about 12 percent of the $17 million budget. "I think everyone was happy just to have it concluded, I know I am," school board President Bob Jones said Thursday. "Now we just move on to the de-regionalization review and then we can get back to business as usual." The Liberty Township Committee is leading an effort to possibly leave the regional district shared with Independence Township. A Liberty-ordered feasibility study released in April showed dissolution would reduce Liberty's school tax rate and bring the township more state school aid. The teachers' contract didn't go into effect immediately because a new salary guide also had to be approved. The board approved the guide Sept. 11 with a unanimous vote. The new salary guide raises starting and beginning teachers' salaries so the district can be more competitive, Jones said. "It makes our starting salaries and initial years on the guide more attractive to the people who are there," he said. Reporter Lynn Olanoff can be reached at 908-475-8044 or by e-mail at lolanoff@express-times.com. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used with permission.