Pay raises for new N.J. teachers contracts are smallest in at least 30 years

TRENTON — As Gov. Chris Christie campaigned against teacher raises during his first six months in office, unions and school districts agreed to the lowest pay hikes in more than three decades, according to a survey released Thursday by the New Jersey School Boards Association.

Teachers in 75 districts who settled contracts in the first half of the year will see an average raise of 2.03 percent for the 2010-11 school year, the association said. That’s the lowest pay increase in the more than 30 years the group has kept track — and doesn’t include an additional 18 districts that broke into contracts to freeze salaries.

Association spokesman Frank Belluscio said the chief factor was the $1.3 billion in state education aid cut since January, leaving many districts faced with a choice: cut pay or see colleagues fired and positions frozen.

"We united to save jobs," said Susan Sawey, president of the Sparta Education Association, which agreed to a one-year freeze. "That was our main goal."

Jobs were also at the forefront when the West Essex school board got teachers, administrators and even custodians that had another year left on their contract to take a pay freeze, board president Phyllis Helmstetter said.

"We were very, very up front with all of the unions about that," she said. "We explained to them we would have no choice. Cuts would have to be made. They were looking out for each other."

The 55 contracts settled from April to June included even smaller raises — an average of 1.58 percent.

Contracts in the second half of 2009 were still being settled with average wage hikes above 4 percent. Such raises are "fast on their way to becoming a thing of the past," Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said. "Gov. Christie’s efforts to effect this change — including his call for a one-year salary freeze and passage of a 2 percent hard cap on property taxes — are having a real impact around the state."

Christie brought the issue of teacher salaries into the spotlight this spring and urged voters to reject school budgets in districts where teachers refused to freeze their pay. Budgets were defeated in 58 percent of districts.

The majority of districts did not see concessions. Employees in at least 210 of the state’s more than 600 school districts agreed to pay freezes or cuts, including teachers in 68 districts, according to the state Department of Education.

The New Jersey Education Association teachers union estimates 10,000 teaching jobs will be lost as districts decide not to replace retiring teachers or order layoffs. The union says a statewide wage freeze would not make up for state budget cuts.

NJEA spokesman Steve Wollmer said the reduced raises show the current bargaining process works. "These settlements that are coming down in this point in time are much lower than they’ve traditionally been," he said.

Christie has proposed several reforms to the bargaining process for public workers, including one that would allow school districts to institute a "last, best offer" in some cases.

Teachers hope a $268 million infusion of federal aid for New Jersey approved earlier this week will mean teachers will be rehired — or be able to reinstitute raises they gave up to save jobs.