Leechburg Area School District reaches new contract with teacher's union

After five months of negotiations, Leechburg Area School District staff members have agreed on a new five-year contract with the district.

Superintendent David Keibler said that while negotiations ran smoothly for the most part, healthcare was the most widely discussed issue. According to Keibler, the district saw a large jump in healthcare costs and called on union members to pay a larger share of those costs than they had in the past.

According to district Business Manager Jacob Chapla, healthcare costs comprise about $5.2 million of the district’s more than $18.3 million budget for the 2025-26 school year.

During negotiations for the previous contract, which ran from the 2020-21 to 2024-25 school years, healthcare coverage wasn’t discussed or changed, Keibler said.

“We were basically negotiating a 10-year-old (healthcare) agreement,” he said.

Keibler said the district and the Leechburg Area Education Association agreed on mandated generic prescriptions, increased copays and, in the last two years of the contract, increased cost sharing for premiums.

Ashley Mondale, president of the association, said 55 members, including teachers, school guidance counselors and school psychologists are represented by the union. She said they agreed to shoulder some of the healthcare costs in exchange for “historic salary increases.”

Members will see an average pay raise of 3.25% each year over the next five years.

“I believe this will make us regionally competitive to bring teachers in and retain teachers with what we offer,” Keibler said.

Mondale echoed the sentiment, saying the salary increase is a valuable tool in retaining the district’s staff. She said despite the eventual success of the negotiations, the process was complicated by unanswered questions from the state.

“While we are proud of this agreement and the work we have achieved with the district, I would be remiss if it was not noted that much of the decision-making that affects the district’s finances lies in Harrisburg, where legislators have yet to pass a budget that increases Basic Education Funding while controlling the cost of cyber charter tuition,” Mondale said an email.

Basic Education Funding from the state makes up more than 30% of the district’s revenue, about $4.8 million, Mondale said. The district also receives 2% of its revenue, about $332,000, from the federal Department of Education.

She emphasized the importance of the union’s role in modern education.

“Our union contract protects us from the uncertainty that’s caused when public schools are used as a football on the field of politics,” Mondale said. “It is a five-year plan, a shared vision with the district, to provide the education our students deserve.”