N.J. teachers get lowest raises in 30 years

TRENTON - Raises for teachers in New Jersey are at their lowest level in 30 years. The average pay increase negotiated since January for 75 contracts for 2010-11 was 2.03 percent, according to a New Jersey School Boards Association report released Thursday. That compares with average raises of 4.3 percent in the 2009-10 school year. The average for contracts settled since April is 1.6 percent. That is the period since Gov. Christie cut school aid and called on teachers' unions to take one-year pay freezes. The report shows 42 of the more than 600 bargaining units in the Garden State agreed to wage freezes. Eighty percent of the 198 teacher contracts that expired in June have not been settled.

- AP