Teachers and Board Work Towards An Agreement

Every few years, the Hempfield School District Board of Directors and the Hempfield Education Association, the union that represents many Hempfield teachers, meet to negotiate a new contract for the teachers. The most recent contract expired June 30, 2024, meaning the teachers have been working without a contract while being paid at the rates from the previous contract. Since then, both parties have been meeting as they work to negotiate a new contract, but an agreement has not yet been reached. While there are many reasons for this, the most important one is that the two parties disagree on multiple financial issues.

According to information posted on the Hempfield School District’s website, the union has proposed plans to address the matter of teacher pay that would increase salaries by an average of 3.631% per year over 4 years or by an average 3.591% per year over 5 years. By contrast, the board’s proposal for teacher salaries offers an annual salary increase that would average 3.25% per year for 4 years. The union’s first plan would lead to an overall salary increase range of approximately 8.8% to 16.2% over the course of the contract. The union’s second plan would lead to an overall increase range of roughly 11.8% to 20.3%. The board’s plan would have an overall increase range of about 5.4% to 11.6%.

There are multiple other districts in Lancaster County that have recently negotiated contracts with salary increase rates that are comparable to these different proposals. For example, according to the Columbia Borough School District’s website, Columbia’s current 5-year contract includes a salary increase of around 9.7% to 16.2%. This means that from year one of a contract to the final year of that contract, a given teacher’s salary could have had an increase from as low as 9.7% to as high as 16.2%. Similarly, an online resource called SCRIBD showed that the official contract for Manheim Central lists a salary increase range of approximately 6.4% to 9.7% over the life of the contract. The Warwick School District website states that teachers will receive roughly a 7.4% increase to an 11.9% increase over the course of the contract. According to SCRIBD, Manheim Township’s current contract demonstrates a salary increase range of about 7.7% to 15.5%. All four of these contracts went into effect for the 2023-2024 school year.

Some of the above numbers were found through official school district websites, but others were found through SCRIBD. SCRIBD is a publicly-available digital documents site where some contract agreements have been uploaded. This is where the salary matrices for other school districts were listed. To find the ranges, the lowest salary in the first year of the contract and the lowest salary in the last year of that same contract were identified, and the percent increase between the two numbers was calculated. This number created the higher number in the range for that school. Then, the highest salary in the first year of the contract and the highest salary in the last year of the same contract were identified, allowing the calculation of the percent increase of those numbers. That number created the lower number in the range for that school.

Another point of disagreement between the school board and the union is health insurance. The way that health insurance typically works in a professional setting is that the employer pays for a majority of it and the employee pays the rest of it. The percentage that the employee pays tends to increase year to year. According to the Lancaster Newspaper (LNP), the previous contract that has expired mandated that Hempfield employees pay 8.5% of their health insurance. As LNP further explains, the board’s most recent proposal suggests that the number increases to 12% for the 2024-2025 school year, and then increases by 1% each year afterwards for the duration of the contract. LNP then informs that the union’s proposal would increase the number to 11.5% in January of 2025 and then remain at that level throughout the contract.

It is difficult to compare the union’s health insurance proposals with Columbia, Manheim Township, and Manheim Central because the percentage information is not available. However, Warwick does list a similar healthcare plan. As Warwick’s contract states, for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years, a plan for a single employee outlines a payment for 9% of their health insurance. That number increases to 10% for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school years.

As of October 18th, 110 days have passed since the contract expired. On October 16th, the teacher union met to discuss whether or not to strike. According to LNP, the verdict was that on December 5th, the union would strike if an agreement was not found.

Students Take Action

At Hempfield High School, students are taking action by advocating for their teachers as they continue contract negotiations. Allison Nikolaus, a sophomore, attended the board meeting on October 8th and passionately spoke about the positive impact that teachers have on students. Describing herself as an active member of the school community, Nikolaus expressed how she wants her voice to be heard.

Nikolaus spoke about her own experiences with teachers who have influenced her beyond academic achievements, stating that one teacher “Cared more about who you were on the inside than the grades you earned in his class.”

Nikolaus advocates for acknowledging teachers who have gone above and beyond stating, “I have had many life-changing teachers while at Hempfield…We can’t afford to lose any of the amazing teachers we have here at Hempfield due to a lack of appreciation.”

Closing her speech, Nikolaus presented the school board with a series of letters written by her peers, highlighting how teachers have benefited their lives by creating fun lessons during the pandemic or how teachers check up on their students’ mental health.

Nikolaus claimed that her anger was the driving force behind her speaking out, “These teachers have done so much for me and it was just so incredibly unfair that they weren’t being valued as I saw fit…So I tried to go to the source of the conflict and openly state my opinion while hopefully being respectful to theirs.”

She goes on to reiterate the importance of recognizing the dedication teachers have put in to enrich students’ lives, “I wanted to demonstrate to the school board just how well educated these teachers have made me through what I hope was an eloquent speech, and I wanted to share with them how much the teachers have helped me to grow not only as a student but as a person.”