Board ratifies two-year contract with Colchester Education Association; eliminates cash-in-lieu benefit
Summary
The board ratified a two-year contract with the Colchester Education Association, including salary increases of 5.25% in year one and 5.15% in year two, elimination of cash-in-lieu of health insurance, and negotiated working-condition clarifications; the bargaining unit ratified the agreement the previous day.
The Colchester School District Board ratified a two-year contract agreement with the Colchester Education Association, the district’s licensed professional bargaining unit. The agreement was ratified by the bargaining unit on June 16 and was approved by the board on June 17.
District negotiators described the process as collaborative and focused on two main objectives: attracting and retaining educators and balancing financial impacts on taxpayers. Negotiators said they used a more direct interpersonal negotiation approach rather than relying primarily on legal counsel and formed working groups to address highly technical issues that required subject-matter expertise.
Key changes described by district staff include clarifications around working conditions to better define how educators and administrators collaborate on time and duties; elimination of the cash-in-lieu of health insurance benefit in this contract (part of a multiyear district effort to remove that provision); and negotiated salary increases the district summarized as 5.25% in year one and 5.15% in year two. Staff said those increases align with the board’s FY26 budget projections.
Ben, a staff member, told the board the district had been operating under a three-year contract that concluded June 30 and that negotiators decided to pursue a two-year agreement because of ongoing legislative uncertainty at the state level. Staff said the contract includes a mechanism to convene superintendent-led working groups when technical expertise is needed to resolve complex implementation issues rather than resolving them at the bargaining table.
The transcript records a board motion to approve the contract and a voice vote of approval. The meeting record also shows one board member stated they would abstain from voting because of a conflict of interest; the transcript does not tie that abstention to a named individual in a way suitable for direct attribution.
The board noted the bargaining unit ratified the agreement the previous day, and staff said implementation steps will follow after the board’s ratification.
