Westport teachers will receive three percent raises over the next three years, under a new contract ratified by the Westport Community Schools school committee last week.

Superintendent Thomas Aubin said he was happy to report that the district and Westport Federation of Teachers came to terms two months before the current contract expires at the end of August. Both sides walked away from bargaining with concessions they wanted, he said.

On the teachers’ side, that includes three percent raises during each of the contract’s three years. In addition, union members received a “slight” increase in longevity pay, Aubin said, as well as adjustments to extra-curricular and coaching salaries which were “significantly lower than surrounding communities,” he said.

There were other small changes in the contract, including one that shortens lunch at the middle and senior high school from 30 to 25 minutes. It may not seem like much, Aubin said, but “kids eat in two seconds” and reducing the lunch period “will help us with some of the shortages and non-teaching duties. It does add up.”

Taken collectively, Aubin said, getting the new contract done on time “just makes things so much easier.”

School committee chairman Evan Gendreau said he was happy to have a trouble-free negotiation. Talks started around the beginning of the school year, “and ultimately there was a lot of good communication involved, and a lot of collaboration.”

Budgetary shortfalls are among the root cause of many of the district’s issues, he said, and he said he’s proud that while the budget supports “our great teachers,” it also does so in a fiscally responsible way.

That was only made possible by “a lot of collaboration between the committee, the business office, administrators, and my maintainingtransparency and open communication with union leadership about the budget process.

The Westport Federation of Teachers is the local arm of the American Federation of Teachers; its new contract begins Sept. 1, 2024, and runs through August 31, 2027.