Batavia school support workers contract OK'd

Batavia school support workers will get a 65-cents-an-hour raise in the first year of a four-year contract the school board approved Tuesday.

In the remaining years, raises will be indexed to the rate of inflation determined by the Consumer Price Index.

The Batavia Educational Support Professionals Association ratified the agreement 61-19 on Aug. 13. It covers most of the district's secretaries, special-education and classroom paraprofessionals, campus monitors, maintenance workers and delivery drivers.

The previous contract expired June 30.

The contract would mean that the lowest pay rate (for a level 1, step 1 grounds worker) would rise to $10.90 an hour. The highest pay rate would be $38 an hour, for a level 5, step 3 heating-ventilation-and-air-conditioning specialist.

The contract also aims to make the amount support workers pay for health insurance premiums the same as teachers, phasing in the changes through four years.

For single coverage, the district will pay 85 percent of the premium in the first three years of the contract, and 80 percent in the fourth year. Single-plus-one goes from 55 percent in the first year to 80 percent in the last year. Family coverage, for which the district currently pays 35 percent, will go to 50 percent the first year, up to 80 percent by the last year.

Meanwhile, the acting president of the Batavia Education Association announced that negotiators have reached a tentative agreement, which members will vote on Wednesday. The teachers' contract also expired June 30.