The Bristol Warren Regional School District and its teachers’ union agreed to a new three-year contract Monday night that includes three years of pay raises, new health care options designed to save the district money and one longer school day per week for teachers only.

The agreement came nearly two years after the two sides began working on a new deal. Negotiations began in October of 2007, continued after the previous contract expired a year ago and finally ended after months of mediation.

“There was a lot of give and take between both sides,” said Paul Silva, chairman of the Bristol Warren Regional School District School Committee.

Teachers will receive pay raises, beginning last September. Teachers ranked in steps one to nine will receive a 1 percent increase. Those in the highest step receive a 2.75 percent increase retroactive to last September, then a 2.25 percent increase this school year, followed by another 2.25 percent increase next school year.

Collectively, the district will be paying $776,848.56 for retroactive raises to Sept. 1, 2008. The pay raises will cost $743,307.40 this year, and then $743,682.54 next year. Superintendent of Schools Edward Mara said the retroactive raises were anticipated and budgeted.

Health care changes

To save the district money, the contract also introduces a high-deductible insurance plan with a health care savings account. It will only be accessible to teachers if 35 people sign on and would be enacted in January. It could save the district 30 percent in health care costs, said union President Linda LaClair.

If a teacher opts for a family plan, $2,000 will be taken out of his or her salary and matched by the district. Those funds (about $4,000 for the family plan) are put into a health savings account that is used for medical expenses like office visit co-pays and other deductible expenses. A single’s plan costs half that amount. If the account is exhausted, the health insurance provider picks up the tab. Teachers can bring any unused funds with them from year to year or if they leave the district.

The district saves money because the high-deductible plan costs much less than the standards plans other teachers use.

“The thought is you can save your health care money, not waste it,” Ms. LaClair said. “And it saves the district money.”

The contract also increases teachers’ contributions to non-taxed health-care premiums to 15 percent this year, bumping up to 20 percent in the 2010-11 school year. The new contract also dissolves buybacks — the practice of paying teachers for not using health insurance. Mr. Silva estimates the redesign of the insurance plan will save the district about 6 percent.

“It’s a nice gesture on their part. It saves a chunk of money and gives us the ability to balance our books for the fiscal year,” Mr. Silva said.

Longer day for teachers

The contract also includes a 25-minute addition to one school day per week, for teachers only, that will be bumped up to 35 minutes next year to allow for common planning time, a R.I. Department of Education requirement at the secondary levels. According to Ms. LaClair, structured planning time allows teachers time to get organized.

“The department of education recognizes this is critical in improving student achievement, and it’s why the association proposed it ...We’ll have it at all three levels here in Bristol Warren,” she said in a press release.

She anticipates the planning time will be scheduled either in the morning before school starts or after school is let out, and it will not affect student classroom time or buses.

“It will be before or after the school day, but not during,” Ms. LaClair said.

Because school starts in two weeks, Ms. LaClair could not say whether or not the planning time would be implemented right at the start of school. She said teachers still must talk out the scheduling.

“You never know, but teachers are so busy before school starts,” Ms. LaClair said.

The teachers’ union and school committee did not go to arbitration, a sometimes costly measure that involves lawyers on each side. Instead, they opted for mediation, though at one point school committee members thought they might have to go to arbitration and prepared to do so.

“They changed their mind,” Ms. LaClair said.

Mr. Silva estimates the mediation fees, which paid for the school committee’s lawyer, cost under $2,000. He said the state pays for part of the fees, then the school committee and union split the difference.

Ms. LaClair said the union and the school committee are happy with the contract and feel the changes are both good for educators and the financial health of the district. Jane Correia, the school committee’s director of administration and finance and certified public accountant, looked over the final numbers.

Two new appointments

During the meeting, there also were two major appointments. Nat Squatrito, a Mt. Hope High School mathematics teacher, was elevated to one of the dean of students positions. He replaces Tony Teixeira, who left at the end of the school year. He will work with Russell Noble, the other dean of students. Mr. Squatrito was an engineer at Raytheon before pursuing the teaching profession. He said the dean of students’ job is to both discipline and support the student body.

“I believe in an open-door policy,” Mr. Squatrito said.

The committee also announced Patricia Gablinske will be the assistant principal of Hugh Cole School. She is the wife of legislator Doug Gablinske (D-District 68, Bristol, Warren).

The contract at a glance

The Bristol Warren school district and teachers’ union signed a new three-year pact that includes:

• Pay raises each year: 1 percent annually for teachers in steps 1 to 9; 2.75 percent, 2.25 percent and 2.25 percent each year for step 10

• Health care premium co-pays increase from 10 percent currently to 15 percent this school year and 20 percent next school year

• New high-deductible health plan

• No more health insurance buybacks

• Longer day for teachers: one 25-minute addition each week this year; 35-minute extension next