Wayne Township teachers could expect a $7,500 across-the-board pay increase over the next two school years. Wayne Township remains the highest paying township in the state with the average teacher salary at $68,737.

Following a favorable vote by the Wayne Township Classroom Teachers Association of 608 to 14, or 97.7%, the Board voted to ratify the 2021 – 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement between the Wayne Township Classroom Teachers Association and the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township with a 7-0 vote.  The full agreement is posted on the M.S.D. of Wayne Township website.  The substantive changes include:

1. Salary Increase

• Year 1: $4,500; starting teacher salary is $46,500.  This increase reflects an average increase of 7% in year 1 totalling $5,982.887.

• Year 2: $3,000; starting teacher salary is $48,500.  This increase reflects an average increase of 5% in year 2 totalling $4,055,958.

• Top of salary is $94,035 in year 1 and $97,035 in year 2

• 27th pay in year 2 totalling $3,672,061.

2. 4% Increase to ECA Schedule in year one totalling $71,799 and 4% increase in year 2 totalling $74,701.

3. Teachers covering a class in lieu of assignment of a daily substitute will be paid the portion of the daily substitute rate equivalent to the timeframe covered by the teacher.  This pay will be retroactive to October 25, 2021.

4. Death of a spouse or a child bereavement leave extended to 10 paid days.

5. Any funds otherwise allocated for teachers rated ineffective or improvement necessary will be equally distributed to all teachers rated effective or highly effective. The redistribution will be paid as a stipend after all salary increases have been awarded for the current contract period.

6.  Add Unified Football Head and Unified Football Asst. Head coaches

7. The utilization of personal days will be reduced to require a 7-day notice instead of 14-day notice.  One (1) personal business day may be used for the last teacher contract day of the school year as specified in the Board approved calendar.

8. In the event that a teacher has 3 consecutive sick days, the teacher must provide a medical certification.  In the case that a teacher is absent before or after a holiday or scheduled break as designated in the Board approved calendar, the teacher may be required to provide a medical certification.

9. Assistant high school athletic director is removed from the ECA schedule.

10. In the event that WTCTA does not have an Executive Director, the president or his/her designee may take up to ten (10) additional association days within a particular school year as needed to conduct business on behalf of the association.  WTCTA will pay for the substitutes for these days.

11. The Superintendent or his/her designee has the discretion to set the new hire salary within this range, but the salary cannot exceed the salary of a veteran teacher with similar experience and education credentials. Once established, the initial salary shall form the basis for future salary increases.

Those individuals covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement who are employed as of November 21, 2021 will receive a retroactive check on December 3 and their new pay amount will be reflected in their December 3rd pay.

The Board also approved a 4% salary increase for all classified employees retroactive to their first day of employment in the 2021-2022 school year and a 4% salary increase for the 2022 – 2023 school year. Classified employees employed as of November 21, 2021 will receive a retroactive check on December 3 and their new pay amount will be reflected in their December 3rd pay.  Approval of these recommendations results in a $1,736,033 increase in year one and $1,805,474 increase in year two.

Also, the Board approved a $2.00 per hour increase in pay when a classified employee substitutes for a classroom teacher in lieu of a substitute teacher. This pay will be retroactive to October 25, 2021.

Further, the Board approved a 27th pay for classified employees in the 2022 – 2023 contact year totalling $1,565,925.

For administrators, the Board approved a flat dollar increase in 2021-2022 of $4,500 reflecting the minimum increase approved for teachers in the Collective Bargaining Agreement and an increase of $3,000 for all administrators in 2022-2023 which is consistent with the increase to teacher pay in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. IN addition, the Board approved a 27th pay in the 2022 – 2023 contract year which is consistent with the increase to teacher pay in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Administrators employed as of November 21, 2021 will receive a retroactive check on December 3 as well as see the modified salary reflected in their December 3rd pay. Approval of these recommendations results in a $465,473 increase in year one and a $428,524 increase in year two.

The Board approved the following change to the 2021 – 2023 Management Benefits to reflect the most recent changes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement:

• Death of a spouse or a child bereavement leave extended to 10 paid days

• The utilization of personal days will be reduced to require a 7-day notice instead of 14-day notice.  One (1) personal business day may be used for the last teacher contract day of the school year as specified in the Board approved calendar.

In addition, at the November 8 Board Meeting, the Board received an update on the 2022 health insurance. Throughout the year, the Health Insurance Committee, with representatives from each employee group, meets with representatives from Apex Benefits. The committee reviews data on monthly claims, premium-to-claim ratios, and potential changes moving forward.

The committee worked through with Apex to research comparative plans with our districts’ and those that are members of trusts.  In an effort to more closely align our plans with some of the other neighboring districts, the committee worked with Apex to modify the plan design to include 70/30 co-insurance percentages on each of the three high-deductible plan offerings.  The plan pays 70% after the deductible and the member pays 30% until the out-of-pocket maximum is reached.

For HDHP Plan 1, the new out-of-pocket (OOP) maximum is $4,500 (single) and $9,000 (family).  For HDHP Plan 2, the new deductible is $5,000 (single) and $10,000 (family), whereas the new OOP is $6,900 (single) and $13,800 (family).  For HDHP Plan 3, the new OOP is $7,000 (single) and $14,000 (family).

In addition, the board contribution rates were modified to be consistent across all levels of coverage for each plan, resulting in slight increases for the single plans but lower per pay amounts for employee+child(ren), employee+spouse, and family plans.

Dental insurance did not have any plan changes and there is an increase of 2% in premiums.

There was no change to the vision insurance premiums.

Finally, the federal government increased the maximum Health Savings Account contribution to $3,650 per individual and $7,300 per family with a $1,000 catch-up contribution for anyone over 55 in 2022. As in years past, employees and a spouse participating in our insurance plan will be eligible for a district HSA contribution up to $500 each.