BOE finalizes agreements with employee orgs

By Hunter Hine Staff Writer

(Aug. 18, 2023) The Worcester County Board of Education on Tuesday approved renegotiated contracts that include pay increases and bonuses for teachers and other school personnel, including school bus contractors.

After the vote, Superintendent Lou Taylor, board Chairman Todd Ferrante, Dwayne Abt, chief operations and human relations officer for WCPS, and Beth Shockley-Lynch, president of the Worcester County Teachers Association (WCTA), signed the agreements.

The renegotiations came after the Worcester County Commissioners in the spring voted against granting the school board’s request for increased spending this fiscal year. Instead, a five-member commissioner majority agreed to provide “maintenance of effort funding,” which means essentially the same amount of money spent the year before, based on the student population.

That decision left the school system $4.5-million short of what it had budgeted for, including pay raises for teachers and other personnel. As a result, the board in June eliminated summer academies, after-school programs, the outdoor 2024 graduation ceremony along with other programs and supplies.

In the two months since, the board has been renegotiating pay agreements with the teachers association, the Worcester County Educational Support Personnel Association (WCESPA) and the school system’s bus contractors.

The negotiations provided that Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds and Maryland’s Leads grant funds would be used to help pay for all employee bonuses that were added in the new agreement.

ESSER funds are covid relief money granted by the federal government to states, according to the Maryland State Department of Education. States then allocate the money to schools.

The Maryland Leads is similarly intended to use federal funds for overcoming pandemic-related learning loss for local education agencies, according to the state education depart- ment.

Board member Katie Addis cast the only dissenting vote. Addis said she is happy that ESSER funds are being used to help pay teachers, but she and other personnel agree that ESSER grant money is always assigned to the county without negotiation.

“The Board of Education really didn’t sacrifice anything in this negotiation process,” Addis said. “I do still feel that there are unnecessary spending cuts that could be made for our teachers and support staff to make them whole.”

The negotiated agreements are retroactive to July 1.

Per the agreements with the teacher association, teachers will receive a 1.14 percent cost-of-living adjustment, a $100 increase in longevity