Westfield teachers will vote on contract concessions Tuesday
WESTFIELD – The City Council will meet in special session July 29 to consider restoring $744,345 to the current school budget to cover longevity and other financial commitments to teachers.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik will ask the council to appropriate funds from the city’s new tax rate that will be established this fall.
City Council action is the result of a tentative contract agreement reached Thursday between the School Department and Westfield Education Association.
The WEA will present the proposed one-year contract to its 575 teacher membership Tuesday, requesting a ratification vote from 3 to 5 p.m. at South Middle School.
“I am very pleased we have an agreement that will avoid any doom and gloom cuts to the school budget and school system this year,” Knapik said Friday.
The $744,345 represents only a portion of the total $864,000 the City Council cut from the School Department’s $52 million budget for the fiscal year that started July 1. The council’s cut represented a display of frustration with the teachers’ unit which had previously opposed contract concessions requested by the mayor of all municipal unions.
WEA leadership agreed Thursday to those concessions that include no salary increase and a one-day furlough of all teachers. The leadership also agreed to give up professional development funds for its teachers. Teachers, in return, will receive modifications to their longevity and step increase increments.
The estimated cost of teacher concessions is $575,000.
Knapik said Thursday the balance of $120,000 from the $864,000 budget cut will not be requested because it included about $50,000 in professional development funding for teachers and another $70,000 for school capital improvement projects being financed by other revenue sources.