Newfound teachers get 9.3% raise, increase in district share of health insurance

BRISTOL — The Newfound Area School Board has approved a new teacher’s contract that, over three years, provides a 9.27% pay increase, and boosts the district share of the monthly health insurance premiums to 87%.

Teachers are working on a single-year contract, designed to quickly meet the need to have one in place. The towns of Bridgewater, Groton and Hebron left the school district on July 1. The new Pasquaney School District was obligated by law to provide teachers with a contract that at least matched the benefits of the towns’ former district, but could not negotiate their own contract until they knew what Newfound’s provided.

The short-term contract that expires July 1, 2026, continued a 100% health reimbursement arrangement — an employer-funded plan that provides tax-free reimbursements for qualified medical expenses — which had existed in previous contracts. However, Health Trust, which administers the plan, changed its policy to limit the amount school districts pay into the plan to 50%.

“Health Trust changed the policy after we agreed to the contract, so they allowed us to be grandfathered in until the next contract,” Superintendent Paul Hoiriis said at a school board meeting on Dec. 1.

The new contract proposal to  go before voters makes up for the reimbursement reduction by increasing the district’s share of health insurance from 85% to 87% of the monthly premium.

“The increase to 87% is offset by what the district would normally pay by paying the 100% of the HRA,” Hoiriis said.

The salary increase is phased in over the three years of the contract, with a 2.5% increase in 2026-27, 3% in 2027-28, and 3.5% in 2028-29, for an effective increase of 9.27% over current pay by the final year of the contract.

Other provisions of the new contract included revising the sick leave policy to include any family medical emergency, and the longevity clause to cover anyone who has worked in a position covered by the contract for a total of 10 years, even if not consecutively employed.

The Newfound Teachers Association-American Federation of Teachers Local 6557 had already approved the contract.

The cost of items voters will be asked to approve is unknown, because it will depend on next year’s projected staffing, which will be determined as the district and the Newfound Area School District Budget Committee work through the 2026-27 budget. That number will be finalized by Jan. 13.

Other discussion at the Dec. 1 meeting included a revision of enrollment projections for the next 10 years. Hoiriis had questioned the numbers developed by the New England School Development Council, a private, nonprofit organization that supports professional development, executive search, planning and management, and executive coaching.

Hoiriis said NESDEC staff admitted earlier projections had not properly factored in students from the Hill and Pasquaney districts who are continuing to attend Newfound schools through tuition agreements, and his own data on births and enrollment in the lower grades indicates, while district enrollment will be decreasing, it will not be as severe as NESDEC projected.

That is important, he said, as the district looks into consolidating schools due to a declining school-aged population.

District enrollment as of Dec. 1, was 1,002 students, down from 1,008 in November, and 1,016 a year ago. At the middle school, enrollment stood at 259.

The original projection show enrollment at the middle school dropping by 130 students in three years, but was revised to 69. The 10-year projection originally had total district enrollment falling by 41.6%, but NESDEC revised it to 31.1%.

School Board member Dennis Fitton of Alexandria said, “When I grew up, it was, you know, three kids. Most families had three, four kids. Now we’re in a generation where everybody wants, like, maybe one or two. And then kids that are growing up as only children, they’re going to want their kids to have brothers and sisters, so it just ebbs and flows, right?”

“We need to pay attention to the numbers,” Hoiriis said, “but we don’t want to under-build where we can’t handle an increased capacity, because of an increase in population or consolidation of the [school district].”

There will be a community listening session at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 6, in the Newfound Regional High School auditorium, to consider consolidation of facilities. The school board is looking at consolidating the district’s six school buildings into two: a regional preschool to 6th grade at the current Newfound Memorial Middle School, and grades 7-12 at the high school campus. Also under consideration is the relocation of the administrative office to one of those locations.