Oregon City Schools announced an agreement has been reached with the Oregon City Federation of Teachers, saving the district over $3 million during the course of the next three years.

“It’s been a culmination of a long process,” Superintendent Dr. Michael Zalar said. “We got started late in the spring and it’s carried over into the summer. We’ve kept the board informed along the way regarding the terms and the conditions and some of the language that has been negotiated.

The board of education approved the contract by a 4-0 vote in a special meeting Wednesday morning. Board member Richard Gabel was absent, but Zalar said “just for the record” that Gabel supported the agreement.

The district has lost 50 teacher positions over the past five years. The new contract will be in effect from June 29, 2011 to July 31, 2014. The previous contract expired on July 31, 2011.

Dave Shafer, president of the 250 member union, said teachers tentatively approved the agreement one week earlier. He said teachers have been working on one year contracts for the last five years.

The terms of the three-year deal include teachers agreeing to a zero percent increase, or freeze, in the base pay along with an increase in their personal contribution to health care benefits. Shafer said this is the third year in a row teachers have taken cuts in either wage or benefit concessions.

Teachers will have a 50 percent increase in their personal contributions to health care — from 10 percent to now paying 15 percent of costs. This will be an average increase of $720 per year for an employee on the family plan.

“At the end of the day, while certainly not a perfect contract for both sides involved, I think this is a good contract. It is a fair contract. It’s a contract that will work in the best interest of the district and provide stability for our program for the next three years,” Zalar said.

“The economic savings that this is going to catch over the next three years is significant. That will help out our bottom line significantly. We will have to adjust our five-year forecast accordingly,” Zalar added.

In addition, the board gained back “management rights” language that will allow flexibility with the starting and ending times of the instructional day. This will enable the board to further capture savings related to transportation and other district operations, states a press release.

“This is going to help us maintain quality programs that we have in place, keep the staff that we have in place, and we appreciate the willingness of our teachers to again share sacrificially with the concessions that they have agreed to — most significantly with the contribution to health care,” Zalar said. “That is where the majority of the savings will be coming from along with the additional language that the board will be able to get back to recapture some operational costs with regard to transportation and things like that. I appreciate the board’s support in this process and teachers have already given their tentative approval to the agreement.”

Zalar added, “In addition to being economically responsible, this contract will provide stability to the district during a time of unprecedented turmoil. Now we can focus our time and energy on improving student achievement and preparing kids for life in the 21st Century.”

Shafer said, “This is a contract that is good for kids and fair to teachers. These are tough economic times. We realize that concessions in wages and benefits are necessary in order for the district to maintain a high level of quality and preserve educational opportunities for kids.”

“These processes — sometimes they take longer than we expect. We have now passed some roads maybe we don’t necessarily want to go down,” Shafer added.

“In the end, I think we came up with something that is acceptable, it’s good for the district, it’s good for kids, and it gives us as Dr. Zalar said, three years of stability to get back to the business of teaching and learning and moving forward together as a district. I think that’s the most important thing at the end of the day — here we are, now moving forward and I think that’s a good thing,”

Board President Eric Heintschel stated, “Our teachers continue to sacrifice for the greater good of the district. This contract demonstrates that the district is committed to working together and providing an excellent educational program at a great value to our community.”

In other business, the board voted unanimously to join the Political Subdivision School Law Hotline.

“Essentially what this does is this enables the board to receive discounted legal rates as members of this hotline,” said Dr. Zalar. “This saves the district money.

“We have to do it annually — renew our membership and we needed to get it done before the end of July for next year so this is our last opportunity to do that. It’s really kind of a routine thing, but it’s something we utilize fairly regularly for a number of issues that come up throughout the normal operation of the district. We subscribe to a number of these various types of organizations,” Zalar continued.

The next regularly scheduled meeting is Aug. 16 at 6 p.m. at the Clay High School cafeteria.

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