As contract negotiations between the Belmont Education Association (BEA) and School Committee stretch into 18 months, school leaders say the current proposals put the parties $600,000 apart this school year alone.
The BEA and School Committee are currently in state-mediated contract negotiations for Unit A, the bargaining unit representing Belmont’s educators. Negotiations for Unit C — the administrative and clerical assistants and Unit D — representing the professional aides and classroom assistants — will resume once an agreement with Unit A is reached.
Since the start of negotiations in 2024, compensation has remained a sticking point. According to School Committee Chair Meghan Moriarty, the proposed cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), combined with salary increases as educators move up the pay scale, have put the union and the school district $1.2 million apart by the 2029-30 school year.
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Currently, the school district has proposed the following COLA increases, which are contingent upon an additional 15 minutes of instructional time for students:
- FY 26: 2.5%
- FY 27: 2.3%
- FY 28: 2.3%
- FY 29: 2.5%
In Massachusetts, most educator contracts extend for three years. Given the length of negotiations, the BEA is proposing a one-year contract for the current school year and a subsequent three-year contract.
BEA President John Sullivan has said the contract proposals are $524,000 apart over the entire three-year contract period — a calculation that doesn’t include increases between steps. Sullivan argued that the School Committee is “double-counting” salary increases and failing to factor in savings from retirements.
The BEA has proposed a 2.75% COLA increase from FY 26-FY 29.
“We want fair compensation that keeps up with inflation. The cost of everything is going up, and the School Committee seems to think that they don’t have to give fair increases, including to our lowest-paid employees who are working with our most vulnerable students,” Sullivan said.
Moriarty said the School Committee’s proposals have worked to prioritize early-career educators and have included “smoothing the scale” when it comes to increases between steps on the pay scale.
“Ultimately, what we were trying to do is establish better pay equity across the unit and create a scale that allows the district to budget more transparently because the built-in year-over-year raises would be the same,” she said in an email to The Voice.
In the 2023-24 school year, the average teacher salary in Belmont was $111,738, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Arlington’s average salary was $95,661, and Lexington’s average salary was $107,428.
Educators are paid under a step-and-lane salary system. Steps are equivalent to years of experience — Belmont’s pay scale currently has 14 steps. The School Committee has proposed adding two additional steps to the contract. Lanes are equivalent to education level.
As educators stay in the district, they can increase their salary each year by moving up a step. They can also move lanes by taking classes and furthering their education up to a doctoral degree.
Though Belmont’s upper steps are similar to those of surrounding school districts, Moriarty said Belmont’s entry-level pay fails to compete. Currently, a new teacher entering the district on the first step with a bachelor’s degree will make $57,015. Most educators in Belmont are hired at a step 8 or above, Moriarty told The Voice. At step 8, a teacher with a bachelor’s degree will make $75,957; with a master’s, they will make $81,695.
“We want to have competitive salaries because we value our educators. At this point, given all of this data, we believe that our proposals keep us among the most competitive and they are sustainable given the Town’s budget allocations for the schools,” Moriarty added.
Under the School Committee’s current proposal, a teacher with a master’s degree at step 8 will earn $94,276 in FY 28.
The School Committee’s compensation proposals are also contingent on adding an additional 15 minutes of instructional time for students within the 7-hour workday.
In Belmont, the average instructional time per day is about 5.93 hours at the elementary level and 6.23 hours at the middle and high school levels, according to the School Committee. Other nearby districts, including Lexington and Arlington, have over 6 hours of instructional time on average on the elementary level.
According to Moriarty, Lexington has an average of 6.67 hours, and Arlington has an average of 6.43 hours of instruction per day at the middle and high school level.
“Belmont educators work fewer days and hours than educators in our peer districts. At the start of these negotiations, we proposed adding a day for professional development to bring us from 181 to 182 days, which would still leave us at the bottom of our peer districts. We also proposed a longer workday (extending the current 7-hour workday). The BEA rejected both of those proposals. This means that our educators are paid at the top of our peer districts and they work fewer days/hours,” Moriarty said.
However, this potential increase doesn’t come without a cost, Sullivan said.
“The School Committee is picking one piece of data to point out, and not pointing out that we have some of the highest class sizes around,” he said.
