SARATOGA SPRINGS — After two years of negotiations, the Saratoga Springs City School District and the Saratoga Springs Teachers Association (SSTA) have reached a new, five-year contract agreement.
The SSTA ratified the agreement on January 4, and the district’s Board of Education (BOE) approved it at a meeting on January 11. The contract will last until June 2027 and cover nearly 600 teachers.
The agreement includes annual salary increases of 4.5% inclusive of step increments, as well as employee health insurance contribution increases. The contributions will increase by 2% in 2024, 1% in 2025, and 1% again in 2027.
“Our membership has always been committed to providing the best education it can for the students in our community, and it has been a priority of ours to be able to recruit and retain the best teachers as they are the cornerstone of learning,” said Tim McGuiggan, president of the Saratoga Springs Teachers Association, in a statement. “We think this agreement will help the Saratoga Springs City Schools live up to that commitment.”
At the BOE meeting on Jan. 11, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Patton said that “it took us a little longer than anticipated, but in the end, we got to a spot that was mutually beneficial to both parties. This new contract supports our current faculty members and continues to help our school district remain highly competitive in our recruitment and retention efforts.”
Tony Krackeler, president of the BOE, said that the agreement “really acknowledges the incredible commitment and devotion of the teachers to the students of this district while also recognizing the fiscal reality of budgetary stress that’s pretty much prevalent everywhere in every institution right now. So I think we came to an agreement that works for all sides.”
Last year, SSTA members called upon the district to increase both salaries and healthcare contributions. Dozens of supporters marched from the Caroline Street Elementary School to downtown Saratoga in protest of failed contract negotiations.
