Hudson Teachers Approve Contract With Performance-based Pay

HUDSON: Teachers in Hudson schools have approved a contract that calls for raises and the start of a performance-based pay schedule.The Hudson Board of Education voted Monday to approve three-year contracts with the Hudson Education Association and the Ohio Association of Public Schools.The contracts cover 342 teachers and 218 support staff.All teachers will receive a 2.25 percent raise and step increases for longevity this school year.In the second year of the contract, teachers with “skilled or accomplished” evaluations will receive 2 percent raises and step increases.In the final year of the contract, those teachers with the same high evaluations will receive 1.75 percent raises and any step advancement.State law mandates that school districts adopt a performance-based raise formula in new contracts.The increases for support staff employees is 2 percent each year.Starting in the next school year, those unionized employees can accumulate performance points to be eligible for a one-time stipend to be paid in the third year of the contract.Both unions agreed to increases to health-care premiums and prescription co-payment amounts.“These contracts are the product of good faith bargaining that represents compensation-based evaluations and hard work,” board President David Zuro said in a statement.Hudson Education Association President David Spohn said a great deal of time and effort was put in by both sides to reach an agreement.“I am pleased with the outcome,” he said in a statement.