Both the association and the school board were reluctant to share specific data on the offers each side is making, citing the ongoing negotiations. By Thursday morning, the school board’s negotiating team, led by board president Dennis Helm, posted a letter to the community on the district’s Web site asserting increasing teacher salary and benefits would be an additional burden for taxpayers already saddled with unemployment, stagnant salaries and their own increased health costs.
“We have good teachers,” Helm said. “I want to keep them. If Bruce (Deveney, the superintendent) came to me and said we weren’t getting applications, or we were losing people, we would move immediately to rectify that. But we’re not, and it would be irresponsible to give more than our negotiated piece away.”
Among the 24 member schools in the Capital Area Intermediate Unit, East Pennsboro’s master’s level teachers have the 5th highest salary — with West Shore, Harrisburg, Susquehanna Township and Derry Township ranking higher. East Pennsboro teachers at the top of the bachelor’s degree scale had the third-highest salary.
By contrast, what East Pennsboro teachers contribute to health care is among the lowest in the midstate, with family plan deductions about $23 a week, with no deductibles and a $20 office co-pay.