[B]URLINGTON — A mediation session Wednesday failed to produce a new contract for the city’s teachers, according to the Burlington School Board. But the board said the two sides inched closer.
The board and the Burlington Education Association have been at loggerheads for the last year over teacher pay and contributions to health care premiums. The current contract ends Aug. 31.
If an agreement is not in place by mid-September, the board can impose contract terms, according to Chair Mark Porter. The union could strike in response.
The timing is tied to the delivery to both sides of a fact-finder’s report Monday that formed the basis for this week’s round of negotiations. The report is due to become public Aug. 25.
During a Wednesday mediation session, the board said, the district increased its salary offer from a 1.8 percent raise to 2 percent, and the union reduced its request from a 5.3 percent raise to 4.6 percent.
The board is also asking teachers to give up so-called step increases that offer raises based on seniority and graduate studies. Those are not included in the overall salary hike discussion outlined above.
The teachers union did not make concessions in other areas of the contract, according to the board, which issued a news release Wednesday night.
The BEA is declining to comment on the specifics of negotiations with the school board.
The board has said it would be willing to increase its salary offer if teachers are willing to pay more of their health care premiums or agree to cost-saving measures.
The board, in its news release, said that teachers’ current demands go beyond what the district can afford and would force “additional cuts to teaching staff and other
important services.”
Porter said he hopes mediation will continue. “The board remains confident that we can reach an agreement that broadens student learning, keeps teacher pay competitive, and is fiscally sustainable for our community,” he said in a statement.
Darren Allen, a spokesman for the Vermont chapter of the National Education Association, decried what he called the Burlington School Board’s attempts to negotiate through the media.
“From a statewide perspective, this is a stage where typically both parties are more focused on reaching a settlement than negotiating in the press,” Allen said.
