MCPS and Employee Associations Reach Tentative Agreement on Salary Increases for Employees

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has reached tentative agreement with its three employee associations on salary increases for the next three years, Superintendent of Schools Jerry D. Weast announced Thursday.

Employees will receive negotiated salary increases of 4.8 percent in Fiscal Year 2008, 5 percent in Fiscal Year 2009, and 5.3 percent in Fiscal Year 2010. The tentatively agreed-upon wage increases are contained in the new contracts currently being negotiated between MCPS and the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), the Montgomery County Association of Administrative and Supervisory Personnel (MCAASP), and SEIU Local 500. The three associations represent teachers, principals and other school-based and central services administrators, and support professionals, respectively.

“Our students have achieved enormous success over the last seven years, and that is a direct result of the efforts of our extraordinary workforce. Our employees have earned our thanks, and they have earned these wage increases,” Weast said. “If we are going to retain the best and the brightest then it’s critical that we pay our staff well.”

Negotiations on all three contracts are expected to conclude by February, take effect July 1, 2007, and extend through June 30, 2010. The ratification votes on the negotiated salary increases, along with other language changes, will occur following the conclusion of those negotiations.

“The wage agreement rewards our employees for the work they do every day to support student learning,” said Merle Cuttitta, president of SEIU Local 500. “This agreement is a solid foundation for our continuing work as we move ahead with the rest of our negotiations.”

“Teachers in Montgomery County love what they do, and they are the best at what they do. The success of our students is the envy of school districts around the nation who every day try to emulate us,” said Bonnie Cullison, president of MCEA. “Our professional educators deserve a wage that recognizes their value, and I believe this new agreement does that.”

“Montgomery County is fortunate to have an educational team that truly puts the students first. Our administrators and supervisors are critical to the success of the students and have more than earned this wage increase,” said Rebecca Newman, president of MCAASP.