Souderton schools open today after strike

Striking teachers in Montgomery County's Souderton Area School District will be back in their classrooms today, with the two sides agreeing to enter nonbinding arbitration.

Schools were to open at their regular times.

State law required the teachers to return by next Wednesday to get in 180 days of instruction by June 15. The strike began Sept. 2.

But with negotiations in the 6,900-student district at a virtual standstill on wages and health care, the main issues, teachers and the school board agreed Wednesday night to have teachers go back to work a few days early. The union membership voted yesterday to end the strike while the arbitration process plays out.

As dictated by state law, a panel will be established, with one member chosen by each side and a neutral third member selected from a list. The panel will receive each side's proposals, which will be made public, and hold hearings. Then it will propose an agreement based on the two sides' positions. The process normally takes several months.

Either side can reject the board's proposal; the district's 512 teachers could then go back on strike, but would have to return to work in time to allow 180 days of classes by June 30.

The school board estimates that the sides are $1.5 million apart on their health-care proposals and $10 million apart on health care and salaries combined. The union leadership says it is willing to reduce its salary demands if the board improves its health-care offer.

The teachers' last wage proposal was for a four-year contract with average raises of 5.98 percent in the first year, 9.4 percent in the second year, 7.14 percent in the third, and 6.9 percent in the fourth. The school board is proposing a three-year contract with a 2.5 percent raise each year.

The district currently offers three self-insured health plans, with teachers contributing 10 percent of the premium for the most comprehensive one, 5 percent for one that has fewer benefits and more co-payments, and no premium contribution for a bare-bones plan. The board wants to eliminate the most comprehensive plan, charge teachers 4 percent of the premium for the plan that now has no contribution, and charge 12 percent of the premium for the other plan.

The union wants to switch to a Blue Cross-Blue Shield plan, leave the percentages of premium contributions the same, and add improvements.