NORTHAMPTON – Every year, Mary Cowhey gets exemplary reviews as a teacher at Jackson Street School, but her paycheck every two weeks tells her she’s below average, she told the Northampton School Committee on Thursday night.
“Do you think I’m an average teacher?” she asked committee members.
Cowhey was one of many teachers who spoke at the meeting about the district’s lower-than-average pay for educators. Voting on the proposed fiscal year 2020 budget was on the School Committee’s agenda, but after more than an hour of public comment — mostly from educators asking that the committee delay the vote — and more than an hour-long executive session, the committee voted to table the budget decision to its April 11 meeting.
Almost every seat in the community room at JFK Middle School was occupied, with more than 50 people in attendance.
“Contract first, budget later,” the crowd chanted right before the meeting started.
Many speakers requested that the budget vote be delayed so that more funding could be allocated for educators’ pay. The draft of the school budget adds the equivalent of 10.17 positions. Educators said they would rather see an increase in pay and for the committee to ask the city for additional funding.
Out of roughly 300 school districts in the state, the average Northampton teacher salary of $61,711 is 19th from the bottom, according to the most recent Department of Education data. The state’s average teacher salary is $78,708.
Changes to the budget in the coming fiscal year include adding academic and behavioral support teachers and a part-time director of equity, diversity and analytics position. The proposed staffing in the budget extends some already existing positions with more hours, such as several part-time English as second language instructors, Superintendent John Provost told the Gazette.
“The administrative team put forward a plan that is calculated to maximize benefits for students,” Provost said of the proposed budget.
Northampton Association of School Employees — the union that represents school employees including teachers, educational support professionals, custodians and cafeteria workers — has been negotiating contracts with the School Committee since late February, according to NACE member Andrea Egitto.
With the aim of getting closer to the state average pay, NACE requested a 6-percent raise every year for the next three years and were offered in return a 1.3-percent raise the first year, and a 1.5-percent raise the following two years, Egitto told the Gazette.
She worries that if the budget is finalized before contract negotiations are done, school employees may not be able to get a raise. Provost said he could not comment on the salary negotiations because they are part of collective bargaining. It is not uncommon for budgets to be completed while collective bargaining is ongoing, Provost said.
Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz, who is chairman of the School Committee, noted at the meeting that the school’s budget must be finalized by April 15.
In an interview with the Gazette on Friday, he noted that the city plans to allocate more than $30 million to the school district in the proposed fiscal year 2020 budget, an approximately $1 million increase from last fiscal year. He also pointed out some state-wide structural issues with school funding, such as the Chapter 70 program, which he has advocated to change and which could bring more money to the schools.
“I understand that they said some strong things about us and the School Committee,” Narkewicz said of Thursday’s meeting. “But I’m going to continue to try to work with them and support them and hopefully we can get back to the bargaining table and try to come up with a contract that’s fair and sustainable.”
Heather Brown, a Northampton High School English teacher, described the recent pay offer as “insulting.” She said she has heard from eight educators that they want to quit their jobs.
“Many can’t afford to live in this community,” she said.
Suzanne Strauss, a Northampton High School English teacher said that women make up 80 percent of NACE’s membership and that she is the primary wage earner in her family.
“Every month we dig into our savings to pay the bills,” she said, adding that she has a part-time job to supplement her income.
Strauss is not the only one with a second job. About half a dozen people stood when Brett Costello, a math teacher at JFK Middle School, asked those in the crowd to stand if they have had to take another job in the last year to supplement their income.
Leeds Elementary School first-grade teacher Liz Boughan said Northampton needs to act like the progressive city it claims to be.
“We should be putting our money where our mouth is,” she told committee members.
Tish Serrani, a parent of children at RK Finn Ryan Road School, said many people in Northampton fight for liberal causes but how the city treats its teachers is “shameful.”
“I think we need to be marching in downtown Northampton as parents and people who care about teachers,” she said in an interview Friday.
Northampton High School math teacher Rachel Stavely-Hale told the School Committee that she has seen morale “go down the toilet,” because of the pay issues.
Robert Parker, a Northampton resident who is not a teacher, said he felt upset when he learned that the district’s teachers made less than the state average.
“It makes me feel angry, I feel duped, I feel embarrassed,” he said.
Kim Gerould, a Jackson Street School teacher, said that the proposed new director of equity, diversity and analytics position is “admirable,” but to attract quality teachers of color, “we need to pay competitive wages.”
Tom Chang, a Jackson Street teacher and parent of kids in the district, agreed. “Right now the only thing that is incentivized in Northampton is leaving,” he said.
After more than an hour of public comment, committee members decided to go into an executive session — a closed-door meeting — for more than an hour to discuss collective bargaining. When the public meeting resumed more than an hour later, the committee did not discuss the budget and voted to table the decision to their next meeting on April 11.
The next bargaining session is April 3, and Egitto said she is hoping that the groups can come to an agreement on the contracts and make changes to the budget before the School Committee finalizes it in mid-April.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com