Voters will be asked next month to approve a contract between the teachers union and the Weare School Board that, for the first time, makes performance pay a component of future compensation for educators.

“The importance of this contract can’t be underestimated,” said School Board Chairman Matthew Thomas.

“We have listened to the voters and heard the desire of the voters to eliminate automatic increases.”

Details of the contract were unveiled to the public Monday, Feb. 1, during the the deliberative session of School District Meeting, during which the School Board presented nine warrant articles and one petitioned warrant article. Those warrant articles will be voted on by the public on Tuesday, March 9, at Weare Middle School.

Including performance pay in future wage increases for teachers is a first for Weare and uncommon in other communities around the state, said Thomas.

“I don’t know for certain, but I think we are one of the first in the state to try this,” said Thomas.

Currently, teachers in the school district are working without a contract, which means that for the 2009-10 academic year, they will not receive any pay increase over what they received last year.

Under the terms of the three-year agreement reached between the School Board and the Weare Education Association, teachers would see a 4.5 percent wage increase in the 2010-11 school year, followed by a 6.4 percent increase in the Voters will be asked next month to approve a contract between the teachers union and the Weare School Board that, for the first time, makes performance pay a component of future compensation for educators.

“The importance of this contract can’t be underestimated,” said School Board Chairman Matthew Thomas.

“We have listened to the voters and heard the desire of the voters to eliminate automatic increases.”

Details of the contract were unveiled to the public Monday, Feb. 1, during the the deliberative session of School District Meeting, during which the School Board presented nine warrant articles and one petitioned warrant article. Those warrant articles will be voted on by the public on Tuesday, March 9, at Weare Middle School.

Including performance pay in future wage increases for teachers is a first for Weare and uncommon in other communities around the state, said Thomas.

“I don’t know for certain, but I think we are one of the first in the state to try this,” said Thomas.

Currently, teachers in the school district are working without a contract, which means that for the 2009-10 academic year, they will not receive any pay increase over what they received last year.

Under the terms of the three-year agreement reached between the School Board and the Weare Education Association, teachers would see a 4.5 percent wage increase in the 2010-11 school year, followed by a 6.4 percent increase in the VOTE2O1O2011-12 school year, and a 5.3 percent increase in 2012-13.

In the first year of the agreement, the impact on the tax rate would be 22 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. For a home valued at $200,000, that would mean a property tax increase of approximately $44.

The agreement calls for the teacher salary line item to increase $204,135 in the first year of the contract, followed by increases of $303,851 in the second year and $265,849 in the third year.

Although performance pay will not be reflected in the first year of the new contract, it will be included as part of the wage increases in years two and three of the agreement, Thomas said. He said a mechanism for testing teacher performance will be established, and that those evaluations will be linked to student test scores.

“The union and the board came together on some very key issues,” Thomas said. “We have found a way to work with teachers to come up with a compensation plan that keeps us competitive. This provides a responsible and reasonable wage structure.”

But not everyone who attended the deliberative session agreed.

“I do not support the contract,” said resident Frank Campana. “I don’t think I can afford to pay that three years from now. I don’t disagree that we need something to keep teachers, but I’m paying the bill, and I don’t think I can afford to pay that bill.”

Campana said he believes the School Board’s representations of the overall tax impact are not accurate. Using what he termed an “anticipated net evaluation” of approximately $940 million townwide, by the end of the contract the tax impact would be 82 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value. Under his calculations, the owner of a home valued at $200,000 would see his property tax bill increase roughly $200.

Busing policy
Another topic of discussion at the meeting was the current Weare busing policy.

Some residents don’t think it’s appropriate that elementary school students ride to school on the same buses and at the same time as high school students.

Warrant Article 9 asks voters to amend the Weare School District’s transportation policy by prohibiting the practice of so-called mixed busing, which effectively places elementary school students on the same buses as students from the high school.

“Personally, from my perspective, as someone with a student at Center Woods Elementary School, I don’t think it’s a wise choice,” said one of the authors of the warrant article, Steve Sarette. “We’re placing students ranging in age from 5 to 20 on the same bus. Even a little roughhousing could cause serious injury.”

The potential for injury was not the only concern Sarette had with the new policy, adding that given the time differences for pick up and drop off between the schools, it could potentially create a situation whereby high school students are babysitting elementary students on the buses.

During the meeting Thomas said no 19- or 20-year-olds ride the school buses.

“And I dare say we have very few 18-year-olds riding those buses,” said Thomas. “I think given the social stigma attached to 18-year-olds riding the bus to school, you’ll find very few, if any, who are doing it.”

Thomas said the decision to change the transportation policy was “a very hard one to make,” but added that it was necessary in this age of cost cutting. By implementing this mixed busing system, he said, it will save the school district $160,000.

The School Board placed another warrant article on the ballot that seeks voter approval of $160,000 should Article 9 be approved at the ballot box. That sum represents the additional transportation costs required to eliminate mixed busing if the petitioned warrant article gets passed.

Operating budget
The School Board also voted to place a $12.9 million operating budget on the warrant next month, which represents an increase of almost 2.5 percent over the default budget of $12.8 million.

Voters will be asked to approve the spending plan despite opposition from the town’s Finance Committee, which believes the school district’s appropriations package for the 2010-11 school year is too high.

Should voters decide not to approve the proposed $12,947,669 operating budget, the default budget will be $12,816,295.

Thomas said health insurance and teacher retirement costs account for 80 percent of the increase over last year’s budget.

In the area of health insurance, the school district will hike spending by $200,639, which represents a maximum percentage increase of 21 percent over last year. In addition, Thomas said, teacher retirement costs – as a percentage of the overall budget -- will increase from 5.8 percent to slightly more than 8 percent next year.