How many public school districts in Union County currently have teachers pay a percentage of their health care premium costs?
Zero (0)

What about deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums?
When compared to similar districts like Millburn, Chatham, Westfield, New Providence and Berkeley Heights, Summit has higher individual deductibles than all of them, and a higher family deductible than all but one.

Summit also has the highest out-of-pocket maximum of all of them.

Do Summit teachers make a lot of money?

Do Summit teachers make more than teachers in other Union County districts?
A beginning Summit teacher does very well in comparison with the county's other 19 districts, ranking 2nd in pay at the entry bachelor's degree level and 3rd at the entry master's degree level.

In large part because of Summit's cumbersome, 25-step guide, however, Summit teachers fall behind many of the other districts the longer they remain in Summit. The average salary of $66,000 would put a teacher with a bachelor's degree on step 20 of the Summit pay guide, which would rank them behind 12 of the other 19 Union County districts.

The following chart illustrates how Summit teachers compare to their Union County peers at various benchmarks of the bachelor's and master's salary guides. Step 20 on some guides reflects multiple max letters.

Does the $22, 556.64 figure cited on the Summit Board of Education website tell an accurate and complete story concerning medical benefits for SEA members?
No. Each Summit Board of Education employee falls into one of eight different benefits categories. The highest annual premium within those eight categories is received by only 26 employees. By contractual agreement, no employee has joined that category since 1996. As members retire, that number will decrease until eventually it reaches zero. The annual premium for 96 other SEA members, almost 25% of all employees, is less than $15,000. The annual premium for 117 more members, another 27%, is less than $7,000. (Source: Summit Board of Education Health Benefits Census)

The Summit Education Association asked the Board of Education to look at competitors' health care plans. One such comparable plan could have saved the Board nearly $1.5 million, but the Board declined.

Why should I care about the salaries and health care of Summit school district employees?
The quality of district employees, and in turn, Summit schools, affects all Summit residents. Our highly-ranked schools are one reason why houses in Summit sell for such high prices. Real estate agents list our excellent schools as a key reason to move to Summit. For example, Lois Schneider Realtors on Springfield Ave. currently has a list of reasons to live in Summit posted in their window, and "#1 Schools" is right near the top.

Summit High School has been a "Benchmark" school for the past four years, and it was nationally ranked by Newsweek Magazine in 2008.