FRANCONIA — The Souderton teachers union accepted the nonbinding arbitration report Friday, thus agreeing to a four-year contract and effectively removing the threat of another strike.

The news arrived on the heels of developments Thursday, when the Souderton Area School Board voted unanimously to accept the arbitration report.

CLICK HERE to see the arbitration report (PDF document)

Bill Lukridge, president of the Souderton Area Education Association, read a statement after a meeting Friday at Indian Crest Junior High School, where the teachers voted.




“The findings place Souderton closer in line with settlements in the surrounding area, so that we can be more attractive to the best and brightest teaching prospects and help stop the exodus of teachers leaving the district,” Lukridge said.

According to the agreement, teachers will receive gross salary increases at varying percentages per year, beginning with a 3.7 increase for the current 2008-09 school year.

The remaining salary schedule for the next three years reads as follows: 2009-10, 4.6 percent increase; 2010-11, 4.5 percent; and 2011-12, 4.3 percent.

During last year’s negotiations, the school district had offered teachers salary increases of 2.5 percent per year over three years. Lukridge said of that offer at the time that Souderton teachers would still be the lowest paid teachers in Montgomery County.

On Friday, he said, “The report recognizes that inequities in the current salary schedule needed to be fixed and that the teachers’ health insurance plan needed to be improved.” He said that since the union and the district aren’t in agreement with each recommendation in the report, “the final product is one of compromise.”

“We now have a contract,” Lukridge said.

Superintendent Charles Amuso and school board President Bernard Currie released a joint statement Friday right after the teachers meeting.

Regarding the health care insurance, Amuso said the arbitration panel “crafted a solution that reflects the dramatic increase in insurance premium costs, as well as reductions in benefits experienced by the taxpayers.”

According to Amuso, the panel recommended reducing the number of health care plans to two, and using a program similar to surrounding districts.

“The arbitrators required that teachers pay a slightly higher percentage of premiums each year, similar to what was sought by the board,” he said. “There will also be an increase in lifetime maximum to $3 million.”

“The annual net cost percentages are in line with the expectations of a majority of taxpayers in the district,” Currie said. “That has been the target for the board from the beginning.”

Currie said that he was saddened by “the damage to our children’s education this year.” In addition, he said he’s concerned “about the damage to the reputation of the teachers.”

“We have a corps of very dedicated, professional teachers, the envy of other districts,” he said.

Currie said he was precluded from addressing this issue during the negotiations due to Pennsylvania labor laws.

“But now I can tell you that we have great teachers, professionals that we value highly,” he said. “Sadly, they have been mislead, and perhaps bullied, by their negotiator and a few members of the union.”

He said the agreement “is just for all parties.”