NEWTON FALLS — The Board of Education has approved a new three-year agreement with the district’s teachers union, which includes pay raises over the three years.

The union is represented by the Newton Falls Classroom Teachers Association.

District Treasurer Ben Marko said there will be pay increases to the base pay of the teachers’ pay schedule which will be 4% the first year, and 3% in the second and third years.

The base salary for employees for the 2024-25 year was $27,293, with the new base $35,859 for fiscal year 2026.

He said in addition to the teachers, the 60 certified employees in the union also include speech pathologists and guidance counselors.

Marko said the employees also have agreed to contribute more to their health and medical insurance. He said employees currently pay 10% to the insurance and the school district covers 90%.

He said that will increase to employees contributing 12.5% the first year of the contract, 13% in the second year and 14% in the third year.

Marko said the board will next meet in September to ratify the next contract for the district’s classified workers represented by Newton Falls Association of Classified Employees.

In other business, Board President Amie Crowder, who is also the board’s representative on the Trumbull Career / Technical Center board, will be addressing Congress in Washington D.C. next month advocating for the need for public money to stay for public education.

Crowder, who is a member of the Ohio School Boards Association’s Northeast Region Executive Committee, was chosen along with three others by the Ohio School Boards Association as a delegate with the Federal Legislative Advocacy Group.

She said while she has spoken to state officials at the house level, this will be the first time she has spoken to officials at the national level in Washington, D.C.

Crowder said with more than 90% of the students in Ohio receiving a public education compared to 10% who attend private or charter schools there is a need to make sure the funding stays for public education.

She said the constitution states that children are entitled to “a free public education” not “a free character or private school education.”

Crowder said there are more than 70,000 children who are being educated in the public schools.

The four delegates will be in Washington D.C. Sept. 7 to 10.

Crowder said the public schools, not private or charter, are required to meet the same standards and have more and more mandates coming from the state for public education and less and less funds to meet those requirements.

She said the charter and private schools are not held to the same standards as public schools are.

She said the delegates will advocate that public dollars stay in public education.

She said she will meet with Congressman David Joyce and others about her concerns,

“It is a real honor to have been chosen to be one of the delegates,” Crowder said.

Crowder said she is seeking comments from community members who may have information or stories that she can share in her testimony before Congress.