The SAD 51 School Board voted unanimously to approve a new union contract with district bus drivers on Sept. 5, but SAD 51 teachers – whose union contract expired on Aug. 31 – are still working without one.

The school department and the SAD 51 Education Association have been bargaining over the new teacher contract since January, according to Superintendent Jeff Porter.

Graham Shove, head of the SAD 51 Education Association, declined to comment on negotiations or why the two parties have been unable to forge an agreement. Bus drivers in the district are also represented by the Education Association, but have their own bargaining unit.

This is not the first time that SAD 51 employees have worked without a contract. Ed techs with the district were without a contract for the majority of the 2022-2023 school year. In April 2023, Shove told The Forecaster that wages were a key sticking point for ed techs during negotiations.

In nearby Portland, ed techs are currently working without a contract and showed up at a recent school board meeting to demand higher wages.

In SAD 51, under the teacher contract that expired on Aug. 31, teacher pay began at $49,677 for the 2023-2024 school year. A teacher with a master’s degree at “step 10” – a step is generally earned after three years of teaching, according to Porter – of experience was eligible for a salary of $68,012 during that same year.

According to data from the Maine Exucation Association, the average minimum pay for teachers in Cumberland County for 2023-2024 was $44,890. The average salary for a teacher with a master’s degree at step 10 was $65,931.

The old bus driver contract that expired on June 30 detailed that drivers with zero to five years of experience were eligible for $21.74 an hour for the 2023-2024 school year. After five years, drivers were eligible for $22.56. The new collective bargaining agreement for bus drivers was not available online before The Forecaster’s print deadline.

Average minimum pay for bus drivers in 2023-2024 was $19.50 an hour, according to the Maine Education Association, though that average includes salaries from many different counties.