February 28, 2024 By Carol Britton Meyer
The Hingham School Committee has been engaged in ongoing negotiations with the Hingham Education Association Unit B (paraprofessionals) since December 2022, with the HEA Unit A (teachers) since February 2023, and with Unit D (administrative assistants) since August 2023.
In an update to the School Committee Monday night, Salary & Negotiations Subcommittee Chair Kerry Ni said the negotiation process involves “making some hard decisions, and our guiding principle — the question we ask ourselves as a subcommittee — is, “What is best for students?” When we consider the costs of all proposals — and almost all of them have a financial cost even if it isn’t obvious at first — we are mindful that at the end of the day — once all of these contracts are ratified — we need a budget that reflects our priorities as a district as outlined in the [Hingham Public Schools] strategic plan.”
Significant gap remains
There remains a significant gap between the School Committee’s and the HEA’s proposed salary increases (as explained below).
Of the total School Department budget, 83% goes to wages for staff, “and we will likely be laying off staff next year to cover a budget that includes just the School Committee’s current proposals. If we were to agree to the union’s proposals, we would need to cut an additional $6.5 million from the budget over the next three years, which would mean substantial layoffs,” Ni said.
At the same time, she stated that even though it seems as though negotiations have been moving slowly, “we have made a great deal of progress,” including “dozens of pages of tentative agreements with the teachers, the paras, and the administrative assistants.”
Some of the areas where the Committee has offered tentative agreements to the teacher and paraprofessional unions include special education caseloads; dedicated common planning time for teachers to collaborate with other teachers, paraeducators, related service providers, and Board Certified Behavior Analysts; closing school on federal election days; and several additional stipends for clubs and sports at the secondary level, according to Ni.
She also outlined “a few areas still in discussion,” including parental leaves and cost of living adjustments (COLA) — with Ni stating that the Salary & Negotiations Subcommittee and the HEA “are still far apart concerning these salary increases.” Ni outlined the differences.
For Unit A (teachers), the School Committee has proposed adding a fourth year to the contract and offered a COLA of 11.5% over four years (2.5%, 3%, 3%, 3%).
“The HEA has proposed an 18.75% increase over three years (6%, 6.25%, 6.5%),” Ni said. “For the contract’s first three years, the School Committee proposal would cost $5.1 million, while the HEA proposal would cost an estimated $9.6 million.”
Similarly with the paraprofessional union, there is a significant gap in the School Committee and HEA Unit B wage increase proposals.
“The School Committee recognizes that we need to pay our paraprofessionals more and so has offered a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) of 27% over three years (19%, 4%, 4%). The HEA has proposed an 89.5% increase over three years (43%, 43%, 3.5%). The SC proposal would cost an additional $1.3 million, while the HEA proposal would cost an estimated $3.3 million over the life of the contract,” according to Ni.
The Hingham Anchor reached out to HEA President Jacqueline Beaupré for comment after the meeting, and she responded with this statement from the HEA:
“We appreciate the School Committee highlighting the many student-focused additions to the contract that educators proposed and have fought for over a year to get. Issues of health, safety, parity should not have taken this long. We are almost done with the work of fighting for students and will soon be left with just fighting for each other. Some of us have stood up in front of the School Committee, Advisory Committee, and Select Board to share how the health plan increases and inflation have decimated our personal budgets. This is especially true for paraeducators and many administrative assistants making less than a Living Wage. It is devastating and embarrassing to stand in front of those with power, etching that pain and injustice into the permanent historical record of Hingham. The morale of educators is already quite low, but such sharing is necessary so the community understands what is at stake. The Town of Hingham has in many ways stated that it values its schools. A Living Wage, fair Cost of Living Adjustment, fully paid parental leave, and more than the minimum insurance is needed to attract and retain the staff making those schools successful.”
More meetings planned
The Salary & Negotiations Committee had plans to meet with Units A and D on Tuesday and to participate in a mediation session with Unit B on Wednesday.
“One of our strategic plan goals was improved communications, so if people want to learn more, they can look at the negotiations page on the HPS website,” Ni said.
Go to https://hinghamschools.org/about/school-committee/negotiations/ for more information
Ever wonder why the School Committee loves to use percentages? A Para hired at 17.50 would get a 19% raise is a $3.32 raise. That will cover the 1gallon of gas that is needed to get to school. It’s a cost of living increase and these numbers don’t cover that