Amid claims the Boardman Local School District’s teachers union has twice rejected proposal for a 3 per cent pay raise, and were not accommodated on a request for more time off, published reports says the union membership of the Boardman Education Association has voted in favor of a possible strike if an agreement is not reached with the system’s administration.
      The BEA’s current contract expired at the end of June and Vince Carnevale of the BEA has been quoted as saying he’s “cautiously optimistic” that an agreement can be reached without resorting to a strike.
      A three-year contract between the Boardman Board of Education and its teachers union, the Boardman Education Association (BEA), reached in June, 2023 cost the school district $2.416 million in salary increases over the span of the agreement. In addition, health care allocations paid for by the district increased by some $700,000.
      The 2023 agreement also gave members of the system’s union a one-time, $1500 cost of living stipend, and employee contributions for health insurance increased by 5 per cent.
      Spread over the term of the agreement, teachers’ pay raises cost the district $770,631 for the 2023-24 year; $805,078 for the 2024-25 year; and $841,065 for the 2025-26 year, according to then Supt. Tim Saxton.
      The base (beginning) salary increased from $37,805 during the first year of the agreement, to $42,276 in its third year when the contract expired at the end of June.
      Maximum teacher salaries rose from $81,188 for the 2023-24 year to $86,134 for the 2025-26 year.
      According to the 2023 agreement, the Board of Education allocated $6.9 million during the 2023-24 school year for medical insurance coverage (medical, dental and vision) and health insurance payments increased to $7.6 million in the 2025-26 school year.
      In 2023, then BEA president Brandy Barborak said the new contract is a “fair compromise that takes into account the needs of our students, the good of the community, and the dedication our members have to the district and to Boardman in general.”