Collective Bargaining

Georgetown teacher salaries, and most in Massachusetts, are structured using a “step and scale” system.  Teachers move between the steps and scales based on their experience and education level and receive yearly pay increases as a result.

1. Steps: Each step represents one year of teaching experience. As teachers gain experience, they move up the steps on the salary scale. For example, a teacher in their first year might be on Step 1, and after completing a year of teaching, they would move to Step 2, and so on. Even if the teacher contract had a 0% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), teachers receive an increase in salary as they progress along the steps in the contract.
2. Scales: The salary scale is based on the teacher’s educational qualifications (such as a bachelor’s, master’s, or additional degrees). As teachers complete additional graduate level education they would move on the scale. For example, if a teacher earns a Master’s degree they move on the scale, resulting in an increase in compensation.

The School Committee created a compensation proposal that includes a restructured step and scale for teachers in addition to cost of living (COLA) increase for each year of the three-year contract. With nearly two-thirds of our teachers currently at the top of the scale, we recognize that we will need to recruit many teachers over the coming years, and we sought to make our pay scale as competitive as possible for new teachers – indeed, based on our information, Georgetown will pay starting teachers the highest salary when compared to neighboring districts.

The Georgetown School Committee proposal:

1. Removes the top 2 rows of the scale, increasing the salary for new teachers entering the field.  It also increases salary for our newer teachers by moving them to a higher step quicker than they would have otherwise.
2. Adds additional rows to the bottom of the scale in the second and third years of the contract to add compensation for our most veteran teachers. This allows our teachers who have “topped out” on the scale to have a $1,000 increase each of the years, in addition to the COLA. 
3. The COLA is a total of 7.25% over the years including:
   1. Year 1:  2.5%
   2. Year 2:  2%
   3. Year 3:  2.75%

Most importantly, taken together, the range of compensation increases for the Georgetown School Committee compensation proposal is between 9.21% (veteran teachers who are at the top of the scale) and 28.77% (new teachers entering the field).

The below information is a sample of salary projections under the School Committee proposal for the current teaching staff. It is important to identify that “step” is the number of years an educator has been teaching and “scale” is the education level of the educator. The FY25 column identifies where a teacher is today if the proposal is accepted. The FY27 column represents the same teacher in Year 3 of the contract. The number of teachers in each step and scale varies, but in FY25, 67% of the bargaining group (the last nine rows) are positioned in the highest step for their educational level.

Step	Scale	Current Salary	FY25 Annual Salary	FY26 Annual Salary	FY27 Annual Salary	% increase
1	1	53,851	60,703	64,351	68,615	27.42%
1	7	57,168	64,823	68,866	73,613	28.77%
2	1	56,890	60,703	66,778	68,615	20.61%
2	4	58,399	62,229	65,925	70,232	20.26%
2	6	59,383	62,229	65,925	70,232	18.27%
2	7	60,551	64,823	68,866	73,613	21.57%
3	1	59,222	63,089	66,778	71,133	20.11%
3	4	60,711	64,632	68,352	75,223	23.90%
5	1	63,872	65,469	69,229	73,613	15.25%
5	2	64,376	65,469	69,229	72,733	12.98%
5	7	68,525	70,238	74,429	79,338	15.78%
6	1	66,216	67,872	71,643	76,126	14.97%
6	7	71,190	72,970	77,214	82,198	15.46%
6	8	72,192	73,997	78,265	83,272	15.35%
6	9	73,188	75,017	79,303	84,341	15.24%
7	1	68,525	70,238	74,089	79,729	16.35%
7	5	70,527	71,774	75,646	81,340	15.33%
7	7	73,854	75,700	79,998	85,417	15.66%
7	8	74,859	76,731	81,043	86,490	15.54%
8	7	76,516	78,430	83,131	91,143	19.12%
8	11	80,951	82,975	87,735	95,965	18.55%
9	1	74,218	76,074	84,815	88,175	18.81%
9	7	79,513	86,965	95,174	97,792	22.99%
9	8	80,512	88,008	96,314	98,962	22.92%
9	11	83,917	97,202	100,146	103,900	23.81%
9	12	85,546	93,233	101,720	104,517	22.18%
10	1	81,124	83,152	85,815	89,175	9.92%
10	2	81,658	83,152	85,815	89,175	9.21%
10	3	82,218	84,831	87,528	90,935	10.60%
11	7	91,033	93,308	96,174	99,819	9.65%
11	8	92,122	94,425	97,314	100,990	9.63%
11	9	93,226	95,557	98,314	102,176	9.60%
11	10	94,832	97,202	100,146	103,900	9.56%
11	11	95,665	98,056	101,017	104,795	9.54%
11	12	97,293	99,725	102,720	106,544	9.51%

Throughout the bargaining process the GEA Negotiating Committee and the School Committee have worked together to come to many tentative agreements. Here are some highlights:

• Sick Bank for GEA members which will allow members to donate and borrow sick time for those who have exhausted their accumulated time due to a prolonged illness. This will be jointly administered by the GEA and School Committee designees.
• GEA members will be compensated $200 for moving their teaching materials and supplies when they are involuntarily asked to move classrooms or spaces.
• The School Committee and GEA acknowledge the importance of a safe working environment and recognize the employer and employees obligation to foster a safe learning environment for all students and a safe working environment for all staff, teachers and paraprofessionals. To this end systems and structures will be collaboratively developed, and yearly training sessions will be held.
• Special Education teachers will be trained and supported to run their annual review meetings and receive time during the school day to develop student’s MCAS Alt portfolios. 
• GEA members will receive two weeks of paid parental leave that will not be deducted from their sick time accumulation. The Parental Leave benefit now allows GEA members to take two weeks paid and up to eight weeks from accumulated sick time. In total, GEA members will be eligible for up to 12 weeks of parental leave.
• All GEA members will have weekly common planning time that will be collaboratively guided by educators and administration. This will afford teachers and administrators to work together on implementing the new curriculum, analyzing student data, and adjusting practices based on student needs.