DRACUT – The Dracut School Committee, as part of its commitment to keep community stakeholders informed, shares the following statement about ongoing contract negotiations with the Dracut Paraprofessionals Association:

“The School Committee has engaged with the DPA in several negotiating sessions. We are working in good faith to reach terms that reflect our primary goal of putting children first and communicating the high value we place on the work of Paraprofessionals for our students, while also recognizing current fiscal realities.

“Residents may have seen social media posts about these negotiations recently. The Committee would like to provide fuller context to the information presented:

• The District develops its budget each year with a focus on students first. Each decision is driving toward our goal of creating lifelong learners who have the tools and skills to reach their potential.
• The Town and District are constrained by a number of factors such as other salaries, expenses affected by inflation, capital projects, and Proposition 2 ½ levy limits.
• The Town and District, like any resident or other municipality, is not a business and cannot simply increase costs of services to boost its revenue.
• Much like a household budget, municipal budgets must prepare for unplanned   The Town maintains and controls a free cash reserve for such costs, and has taken significant steps in recent years to increase this  reserve through sound financial planning.  The Town’s free cash balance is a buffer for unexpected expenses; use of free cash to pay for fixed costs such as salaries is considered poor fiscal practice.
• Paraprofessionals currently are working under a three-year contract that the DPA and Committee agreed upon in 2020. The Committee has offered terms for a successor contract with a significant pay increase that will bring wages more in line with surrounding districts.
• The District has successfully negotiated successor contracts with each of the other six employee unions for the coming school year. Those agreements include 4% increases annually for each of the next three years. The agreements also included retroactive pay to those employees in the 2022-2023 school year. An identical offer for retroactive pay was made to the DPA. The DPA has rejected the offer.
• The approved 2023-24 school budget includes expenses that directly benefit Paraprofessionals. Paraprofessionals are contracted to work 1,056 hours per school year – about 56 percent of the hours of a full-time employee – and receive health insurance benefits equal to those received by full-time, full-year employees. This benefit has a value of $7,600 to $18,250 per Paraprofessional.
• Paraprofessionals work 180 days per year, 6.5 hours per day, with a break and lunch break included. Additionally, full-time paraprofessionals are provided eight paid holidays per year, along with sick and personal days, which is comparable to other full-time District staff.
• Paraprofessionals have the opportunity to increase their District pay through school year and summer program employment opportunities.

“The School Committee’s most recent proposal represents our best effort to settle this contract equitably. The DPA has rejected our offer, maintaining that more money is available.

“When a union says ‘find the money’ to meet its demands, it means taking money from elsewhere to remain within the budget approved by the Town Meeting.

“Personnel costs represent our largest expense. 90% of new dollars in the 2023-2024 District budget were devoted to salary increases for employees. Reducing or defunding other line items to meet the union’s demands may require us to lay off staff, which would be harmful to our students.

“We invite community members to view our detailed budget documents posted on the School District website.

“We remain optimistic that we will settle the DPA contract soon, with terms that are respectful, fiscally responsible, and in the best interests of our students and the District.”