As school year starts, thousands of Pa., N.J. teachers without new contracts

Thousands of public school teachers from the Delaware Valley will start the year without new contracts.

Teachers from more than 350 school districts across Pennsylvania and New Jersey are busy negotiating the terms of a new contract.

“This year, we have over 200 districts without contracts as we start the school year, which is a bit higher than normal and I think everyone expects that,” said Steve Wollmer, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, a union representing more than 120,000 teachers.

“These are difficult times. Negotiations are moving very slowly, resources are scarce.”

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Wollmer said, typically, there are only 125 districts with no teachers’ contracts. That statistic is born out in Pennsylvania, where talks are ongoing in about 130 districts.

A spokesman for the Delaware State Education Association says all districts in the First State have contracts.

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