After over a year of negotiations, Vestal Central School District teachers continue to work under an expired contract. Beginning in February 2024, negotiations focused on salary increases, health insurance plans and after-school meetings for professional learning.

Last month, Joe Herringshaw, president of the Vestal Teachers’ Association, told Pipe Dream he believes both parties are “very close” to finalizing a contract after a series of informal meetings, while retiree health insurance remains a significant outstanding issue. Until a new contract is finalized, salaries, benefits and insurance plans will remain at rates set by the old contract, which expired on June 30, 2024.

Both parties proposed a 4.5 percent salary increase for the 2024-25 school year, but they differ on raises for the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school years. The school district proposed a 3.8 percent increase for both years, while the teachers’ union proposed a 4 percent hike.

As for health insurance, Herringshaw said the union is prepared to switch to a cheaper health insurance plan, which could “generate potentially millions of dollars” of savings over the next decade. The Vestal Teacher’s Association asks the district to direct some of those savings toward increased coverage for retirees.

“We’re asking to share in the savings, take some of that savings and apply it toward the district paying a larger contribution to our retirement health care,” Herringshaw said. “We believe that our offer to the district would allow for the district and the taxpayers to save millions of dollars and enhance the lives of our retirees by alleviating some of the financial burden of retiree health insurance.”

Currently, the district contributes 70 percent toward individual retiree health insurance plans. The union proposed an increase to 86.5 percent, while district officials offered an 82 percent contribution.

Similar increases are being negotiated for spousal and family coverage plans.

Clifford Kasson, the school district superintendent, told Pipe Dream the union requested “a very large increase to retiree/family members health insurance paid by the district for life.” In a March letter to the district community, Kasson wrote that the union’s proposed rates “would have a negative fiscal impact on our district budget and is not fiscally sustainable.”

The school district’s latest proposal includes six one-hour after-school meetings for professional development. Kason believed the expired contract “does not provide teachers time to collaborate after school” to discuss lesson plans and curriculum instruction.

In contrast, the union proposed two additional faculty meetings each year.
Herringshaw’s work schedule has also been brought up for debate. As union president, Herringshaw works “part-time for a full-time salary and benefits,” Kasson wrote in the letter. The president teaches three classes per day, instead of the usual five, and is exempt from study hall and homeroom duties. The district spends over $16,000 annually to cover the two classes and pays “two other teachers above contract to teach those classes not taught by the VTA president,” Kasson wrote to Pipe Dream.

“We see it as an anti-worker agenda,” Herringshaw said. “The union release time provides opportunities for the members to have access to the president of the association to advocate on their behalf, to problem-solve issues and create resolutions before they become significant labor issues.”

“That was the intention of the creation of the release time,” he continued. “It’s worked well for over a decade. The superintendent just does not share that vision.”

In April, dozens of teachers and community residents rallied in support of Vestal School District teachers. Many carried signs reading “Settle the Vestal Teachers’ Contract!” and “Children Deserve What’s Best, Teachers Deserve What’s Fair.”

“Vestal teachers are committed to our students, our community and school district,” Herringshaw said. “We have a history of excellence in the region, and we just want to be able to care for our own families in a way that is financially sustainable and be able to retire with dignity.”