As school year begins, most new N.J. teacher contracts included givebacks

Nearly three-quarters of the new contract agreements this year for New Jersey teachers call for some concessions.

Meanwhile, teachers in more than half of the 206 New Jersey districts where contracts expired last year are beginning this school year without a new contract in place.

And more than a third — 37 percent — of the contract settlements include additional instructional time, up from 30 percent the previous year, said Jeanette Rundqist, spokeswoman for the New Jersey School Boards Association.

“Examples of additional work time include adding days to the school year, adding time to the school day, or restricting the school day to allow more student-teacher contract,” she said.

The added class time is not a policy shift for all schools, according to Steve Baker, spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association.

“There are districts that have increased it, districts that have left it the same, some districts where there has been some slight decrease,” he said. “So I don’t think that you really see a significant trend one way or the other in that area.”

About a quarter of the recently settled teacher contracts include a salary policy concession such as freezing stipends or eliminating longevity.