Leonardtown, MD — The St. Mary’s County Board of Education has ratified four-year agreements with the unions representing teachers and support staff. The negotiated agreements with the Education Association of St. Mary’s County (EASMC) and the Collective Education Association of St., Mary’s County (CEASMC) were formally signed at a special board meeting June 14.
On May 2 of this year the board and the unions signed a three-year agreement which called for additional funding beginning in July. But that agreement became moot when the county commissioners did not fund enough money to implement it. It forced the three sides to return to the bargaining table.
The new agreement creates a new salary scale with higher starting and ending salaries and standard percentages between ranges and steps. Employees will be placed on the new scale at a salary higher than their salary at the end of the fiscal year on June 30. For some employees that increase will be minimal.
Under the agreement signed June 14 there will be a one-time payment to employees in December of 2016 of either $375 or $750. Then the agreement calls for a one=step increase in each of the next two years. On July 1, 2019, the agreement calls for a two-percent advancement in salary scales in addition to a one-step increase.
If at any time during the term of the agreement the board finds itself not in the position to fund what was negotiated, then the negotiations would have to be reopened.
School board member Cathy Allen (shown above) told The BayNet that she is optimistic that the board will be able to fund each year of the four-year agreement with anticipated revenues. She said the negotiated agreement provides stability in a process that in the past has been less than stable.
The county commissioners, during their budget deliberations, expressed the hope that the school board would be able to come up with a longer-term agreement to achieve that budget stability.
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com