DERBY – Teachers will receive a nearly 21 percent salary increase over four years, according to a new contract approved by the Derby Board of Education on Dec. 18 by an 8-0 vote. 

School board member Dan Foley abstained because his daughter teaches in the district.

The contract covers 2026 through 2030. The salary increases are as follows:

Year 1: 7.9 percent

Year 2: 4.6 percent

Year 3: 4.3 percent

Year 4: 4 percent

Those numbers are a 5.23 percent increase on average per year.

The contract also has to be approved by the Derby Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen, the city’s legislative body.

The contract also puts the teachers’ union on a new healthcare policy – CT Partnership Plan 2.0, which Mayor Joseph DiMartino’s administration switched to last April in an effort to save money on insurance costs.

The employee premium contribution is 20 percent through June 30, 2026. It drops to 17 percent in the subsequent contract years to match what is happening on the city side of the budget.

Longtime school board member Jim Gildea said the salary increases were needed because Derby was hemorrhaging teachers.

“I think we’ve lost something like five teacher of the year candidates in the last few years,” Gildea said. “We were not competitive with salaries. Why would a good teacher stay here if they could make some $10,000 more in Seymour, Oxford or Shelton?”

Gildea also acknowledged it will be a tricky budget season in Derby because of the revaluation of properties taking place. Some 8 percent of residential houses saw their assessments go up by more than 100 percent.

The former school board chairman said the board will have tough decisions to make given the economy and the fact COVID-19 era grants have gone away. Still he noted Derby wasn’t just losing good teachers because of the salaries, they were losing their best.

Click here to read the contract.

The current school budget is $20,448,449, according to last April’s Derby tax board vote.

The document below was shared by the school district. It shows the major differences between the old and new contracts.