The new labor contract for Winthrop Public Schools teachers requires all teachers to pay more for their health insurance starting next year.

The contract covers 2013-14 retroactively and expires in summer 2017.

The responsibility that school employees bear for health insurance was a major issue in the dispute between the school board and Town Council last year that delayed the approval of the 2013-14 school budget until February, more than halfway through the school year.

Superintendent Gary Rosenthal said he had not spoken with municipal officials about the new contract, but he said everyone was aware of councilors’ demands that all teachers pay at least a portion of health insurance premiums.

“I know that the concern existed throughout the process,” he said. “And I think between employees picking up a small percentage increase or cost for next year and the spousal certification for the year after, it will meet some of our targets and some of their targets.”

Premiums for individual plans have been paid entirely by the school district, but starting next year teachers will have to pay $370 for them. Rosenthal said that’s about 2 percent to 2.5 percent.

For plans that include spouses and dependents, teachers will pay 17 percent of the premium, up from 15 percent. The new contract also includes a spousal certification requiring teachers’ spouses to get insurance through their own employers if possible. That requirement takes effect in 2015-16.

“I think those percentages are moving in the right direction,” Town Council Chairman Kevin Cookson said when told of the contract’s terms.

Cookson said Winthrop could realize the biggest savings from the spousal certification.

For Winthrop employees that work for departments other than the schools and for whom Town Council determines compensation, the town picks up 90 percent of the premium for individual health plans and 65 percent for family plans, Cookson said.

Cookson and most of the other councilors said last summer that they would not support a school budget that did not cut health insurance costs. School officials said they could not commit to anything because they were in the midst of negotiations with the Winthrop Education Association, and the Maine Education Association warned that pressure from Town Council could amount to illegal third-party bargaining.

The school board approved a budget without any reduction in health insurance and sent it to Town Council. In January, the council stripped $100,000 from the budget to attempt to force a change.

Councilors restored the money a week later after school officials said they could not make such an abrupt change to labor contracts and that the only way to save that much money several months into the school year was to lay off as many as 10 teachers.

Balancing the increase in health insurance costs for employees, the new contract provides raises every year.

There will be a retroactive payment for 2013-14 of $500 for full-time teachers. It will be prorated for teachers who work less than full time.

In the remainder of the contract, all teachers will receive small raises each year, plus step increases tied to years of experience or credentials, but the raises will vary as the district moves teachers to a uniform pay scale. They have been on different scales, Rosenthal said.

Susan McMillan — 621-5645

smcmillan@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @s_e_mcmillan