The Daniel Boone School Board will reveal Monday night if district teachers have accepted the results of a fact-finding report regarding a new teacher contract.
“No one has told me yet how we’ll pay for it,” said board member Richard Martino, who voted no.
Report details will be released upon its approval by the Daniel Boone Education Association (DBEA).
Teachers have worked without a contract since August 2015.
The board approved the report of William W. Lowe, Fact-Finder, Red Lion, at a special voting meeting on Nov. 9.
Lowe is an arbitrator/fact-finder for the Pennsylvania Labor & Relations Board
The fact-finding phase began in October.
A hearing was held on Oct. 20 before a Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.
Mark Fitzgerald, Esquire, Labor Counsel with the district’s solicitor firm, Fox Rothschild, Philadelphia, said the fact-finding report indicates the district’s financial constraints.
Board members have said the district’s major expenses are district salaries and its annual contributions to the state pension fund.
In an effort to reduce salaries and retirement costs, the district furloughed 29 cafeteria workers when it outsourced those services in June 2015.
The district contracted with The Nutrition Group, Inc., Irwin, Westmoreland County.
This May, the board outsourced its 35 employee custodial staff by contracting with GCA Educational Services, Inc., headquartered in Cleveland, OH.
Martino voted no on Oct. 10 to the three percent increase in the Daniel Boone Federation of Support Staff contract.
“We need to cap our salaries, and this contract does not do that,” said Martino.
“Salaries are out of control and just seem to get worse.”
He said the district needs to control the number of its employees with no salary increases.
The support staff contract was approved 6-3.
“It’s extremely hard to allocate funds for educational programs when the [district] budget has experienced over $5 million in pension increases for the past five years.”
“In 2009-10, our annual pension cost was less than $1 million; this year it’s over $6 million,” said Martino.
