School District, Teachers Agree on Contract

The and the Smithtown Teachers Association have agreed on a new contract, ending two years of negotiations.

"I am pleased to inform you that the teachers of Smithtown have ratified a contract which, most certainly, assists the district in its mission of providing a comprehensive educational program in a financially prudent manner," Superintendent Edward Ehmann said in an email statement released on the district website.

The new contract is a five-year agreement with an average annual salary increase of .7 percent over the length of the contract.

For the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years there will be no increase in teacher salary 2012-13 and 2013-14 there will be a half-step increase, 1 percent and 1.25 percent respectively, and a regular step increase in 2014-15 at 1.25 percent.

Employees will pay more into their health insurance premiums with the new contract. Prior to the new contract employees were paying 14.5 percent into the premiums. With the new contract all employees will be paying 18.5 percent into the premiums by July 1, 2014 and all new hires as of July 1, 2012 will pay 18.5 percent.

The retirement structure also changed as the district will now pay 75 percent towards the first 10 years of a family plan and 80 percent towards an individual plan. This provision to the contract ends June 30, 2015.

Other changes to the contract include the STA paying $250,000 of its Benefits Trust Fund to the district and no advancement in salary due to educational credits in the 2014-15 school year.

The district said via its website that the new contract is "fiscally responsible for the district and the community as well as fair to [the] employees in these difficult economic times."