Credit:Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
The Neshaminy School District and Neshaminy Employee Support Personnel Association (NESPA) are at a contract impasse.
The school board and 500-member support staff union began negotiations for a new contract in December 2021. The district said they presented their “absolute final best offer” in summer, but the union turned down the offer in September, four months after it was presented.
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The last contract expired on June 30. Without a current contract, the terms of the last deal remain in place until a new one is agreed upon and approved.
Several NESPA members – some who make $16 or $17 per hour – spoke before the school board last month saying a proposed 4 percent raise isn’t enough to cover rising health care costs proposed in the deal. One member said it wasn’t fair to get what would amount to a $1 per an hour raise while health care contributions would increase higher than that.
NESPA did not return a request for comment, but based on statements from members speaking to the school board and an email from a member, a main sticking point is a proposed change to benefits that would mean spouses would have to get insurance through their employers if it is offered and not through the district.
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Neshaminy School Board Vice President Tina Hollenbach read a statement at a school board meeting last month that said the district had proposed wages increasing by 4 percent or more over the course of five years. The district also proposed moving some employees up in wage from a previous pay structure to a grandfathered wage rate, which would give some staff a 19 percent to 38 percent yearly increase for year the adjustment happened.
The district also proposed getting rid of a two-tier benefit plan for employees, and removing a probationary period for benefits that is offered to new employees and their dependents.
“As a cost saving measure, the District sought to introduce a high deductible plan as one of the health insurance options for the bargaining unit members, but with employer contributions to a health savings account for the association members who selected the high deductible plan in order to offset the impact on bargaining unit members of the higher deductibles,” Hollenbach said in a pre-written statement.
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The school board said their proposed deal would increase wage costs $3.4 million over the life of the contract.
The school board said their proposal is “at the upper-most limit of burden that we … believe our taxpayers will support.”
The school board is prepared to begin negotiating with the union if they wish, they said in a press release.
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“Neshaminy’s Board of School Directors and administration are extremely disappointed in the outcome of the vote in that we have worked through the association’s recommended process, and despite assurances and repeated requests that this process would include a recommendation from NESPA’s bargaining committee to the general membership to approve the proposal, that did not occur,” Hollenbach said.
“The district believes the offer is fair and both sides would benefit from a settlement,” she said.
NESPA members have had rocky contract talks with the school board in the past. Members have compared their pay and benefits in past years to that of better-paid teachers and administrators in the district.
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