Aug 24, 2013 2 min read

As classes resume, just two local school districts in Washington and Greene counties are likely to start the school year without a long-term teacher contract.

Canon-McMillan and Ringgold school districts are currently negotiating with their respective teachers’ unions to reach a contract agreement. At Canon-McMillan, teachers have been working without a contract since a three-year pact expired Aug. 15, 2012.

Assistant Superintendent Scott Chambers said negotiations have been ongoing with representatives of the Canon-McMillan Education Association, which represents 328 teachers in the district, but he did not discuss details of those talks.

Ringgold Superintendent Dr. Karen Polkabla said the district and the teachers are working hard to reach an agreement on a new contract, but did not discuss contract-related issues.

Ringgold chief negotiator William Stein said he believes a settlement will be reached “sooner rather than later.”

Said Stein, “The teachers and the school district are working diligently to arrive at a contract. We feel very good about the teachers in the district and we want to arrive at a contract that’s fair to them and fair to the taxpayers in the district.”

Other area districts have settled their labor issues.

Last week, teachers and school directors in the McGuffey School District reached a four-year contract agreement, ending more than seven months of negotiations. The previous contract expired July 1.

Teacher salaries are set to increase an average of 3 percent a year during the term of the contract.

The starting salary for a McGuffey teacher with a bachelor’s degree in the 2013-14 school year is $37,642. It will climb to $39,742 by the fourth year. At the top end of the salary scale based on years of service, a teacher with a bachelor’s degree will make $74,174 in the 2013-14 school year, and $74,564 by the end of the contract.