District, teachers reach accord

MAT-SU — A tentative two-year contract between the Mat-S Education Association and Mat-Su Borough School District will give teachers a 4 percent pay increase if approved by the board of education.

Under the tentative contract, teachers represented by the union will receive an annual salary increase of 4 percent in fiscal year 2009 and 3.75 percent in fiscal year 2010. They will also have two work days added to the calendar in the second year to better plan for parent-teacher conferences. Health insurance contributions are set to remain the same as in the past.

MSEA President George Stuart said while the process of hammering out a new contract agreement took considerable time, it was done with a high level of politeness.

“I think it’s going to meet the need of teachers,” Stuart said.

Those needs are gauged by a survey of teachers in the fall used to determine a collective sentiment of what is wanted. Stuart said considerable inflation since then also influenced the contract. He said teachers seemed pleased with the outcome.

“Given everything that’s happening in rising prices and all the [price] increase we see around, I think this is a good contract,” Stuart said.

A statement from the school district expounds on a tactic of finding common ground during the negotiation process instead of butting heads.

“We focused on common interests instead of adopting hard positions,” Superintendent George Troxel says in the statement.

For the contract to become official it must be ratified by MSEA members and approved by the school board.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Michael Rovito at 352-2252 or Michael.rovito@frontiers-man.com.