Apparently, one of the last sticking points has been links between pay raises and graduate credits. Here’s the board’s proposed language. This is a substantive issue that deserves more attention than it usually gets. Teacher unions usually despise cyberschools for kids, but they love them when it comes to racking up graduate credit hours for themselves.

Actually, the whole notion that districts should be shelling out large amounts of money to pay for graduate credits is open to question. The Saucon Valley board wants to give credit only for courses that are part of a graduate degree program. This is understandable as a tactic for eliminating junk courses, but the link between graduate degrees and student achievement is probably non-existent — at least when the graduate work is in education. (There appears to be a positive effect when the courses are in teachers’ subject-matter fields, especially math and science.) For at least some links to the research see “Separation by Degrees” at the website of the Center for American Progress — a progressive (left-leaning) think tank.

The union wanted a five-year contract while the board, citing economic uncertainties, proposed three. The fact finder agreed with the board.

The big dollar differences between the proposals of the board and the union involve salary. The district was offering pay increases averaging 2%. The union was demanding 4.5% per year. On this issue the fact finder roughly split the difference, leaning slightly toward the union position. He recommended average increases ranging from 3.8% to 4% — which doesn’t sound too shabby during a recession. (He tilted toward the board on several other issues.)

The union chutzpah on graduate credits was almost breath-taking. East Pennsboro teachers now get pay raises for earning 45 graduate credits (without a masters), for a master degree, and for M+45. This is called “lateral” movement on a salary scale, as distinct from “vertical” movement based on seniority. The union asked for the addition of seven new pay increases for earning graduate credits. Under the union proposal teachers would get salary boosts after earning 12, 24 and 30 credits beyond the bachelor’s degree; 15, 45 and 75 credits after the master’s degree, and after earning a Ph.D. The fact finder recommended adding only one new increment — M+75.