The Concord teachers union and the Concord School Board will go into mediation this week in hopes of reaching a contract agreement.
Concord teachers have been working without one for three months.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s Amy Quinton reports on why reaching an agreement in Concord is always a battle.
Every three years, the Concord Education Association, which represents about 400 teachers, has to negotiate salary and benefits with the Concord School Board.
And every three years, coming up with an acceptable contract gets more and more difficult.
C-E-A Negotiations Chair Mike Macri, says they’re at an impasse with the School Board again this year, even though they began discussing contracts more than a year ago.
"it does happen every three years, it’s very discouraging to our teachers they feel like they’re not appreciated and we just don’t understand it, I’ve been here 20 years I’ve never had a three year cycle where the district has just said yes, teachers you deserve a raise, it’s never happened. "
Concord is unique in that it’s the only district in the state where the school board sets its own tax rate.
Concord School Board Chair Claudia Damon says that makes a contract settlement a bit more difficult because board members feel directly responsible for the property taxes that people pay.
But Damon says the current contract dilemma involves much more than just teacher salaries.
"really the elephant under the rug in this negotiation and why we’re not reaching agreement is the cost of health care, the district is self insured we don’t have an insurance company so it’s the cost of health care …it’s just not a happy situation to be in."
The district has budgeted six point seven million dollars for health insurance this year, that’s about one and a half million dollars more than last year.
Damon says the district covers between 86 to 95-percent of the costs of the health care plans they offer.
She says it’s time teachers do more.
"what we’re asking the teachers to do, the CEA to do, is to increase the amount that they pay towards the insurance because we need to hold down the costs of health care "
The increase in health care costs would amount to a four point three percent rise in the school portion of Concord’s property tax rate, or almost 50 cents.
C-E-A President Kerry Clock says teachers realize that – they too will have to pay more taxes.
But they need a better proposal in order to stay competitive.
"We’re negotiating a contract, we’re not saying that there won’t be some additional concessions around health care but you got to look at the overall package, what we’re seeing right now frankly is not going to attract or retain teachers in Concord"
The problems between the Concord School Board and the CEA are more entrenched than the issue of health care.
While health insurance costs have stymied a few contract negotiations across the state, as a rule, most districts reach agreement before contracts expire.
In contrast, in Concord there almost seems to be a culture of forced mediation -- at a cost that can go as high as two thousand dollars a day.
CEA negotiations chair Mike Macri says its as though the board has built walls that separates them from the teachers.
"One of the big sticking points with us is that the school board refuses to come to the table and meet with us face to face, they send a lawyer and usually two administrators."
That’s not a common practice across the state.
Richard Courtney, who heads negotiations in the Seacoast region for NEA New Hampshire says that makes it harder for the teachers because it removes the human factor.
"I think it would be a big disadvantage because at the bargaining table if you’re sitting across the table from decision makers then you have an opportunity to convince them of the wisdom of your position, if you have to rely on a third party to deliver that message you don’t know what they’re saying to them, so if you can say it to them directly then obviously that’s much better than having them get it second hand. "
But school board chair Claudia Damon says it’s a red herring to think that the negotiations process is flawed.
She doesn’t see anything wrong with sending their business administrator and attorney to negotiate.
"they go after many meetings with the school board, the school board discusses with them what they want to do, so they aren’t acting on their own, they’re acting for us and that’s the way its always been done and it’s an efficient way to do it from our point of view."
One perspective left out of this conflict is the opinion of parents and Concord’s taxpayers.
While the school board says the public doesn’t want its taxes raised to pay for teacher’s health care costs, Chair Claudia Damon admits very few people show up to the district’s public hearings.
At Rundlett Middle School, hardly any parents even knew a contract disagreement was an issue.
Parent Cindy Oday expressed the opinion of most parents.
" I have kids in three different schools, but I don’t know anything about any dispute with the teachers."
The lack of public awareness is disappointing to both sides, because ultimately negotiations – no matter what the outcome - will affect taxpayers.
The next mediation session between the Concord Education Association and the School Board is scheduled for October 6th.
For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.
