Wayland teachers bargained for a raise. What voters can do to let them have it sooner.

WAYLAND — A Special Town Meeting on Wednesday will ask voters to weigh in on a single warrant article: whether to approve immediately funding a 3.25% cost-of-living increase negotiated by local teachers and secretaries and the School Committee, rather than wait until next spring's annual Town Meeting.

Citing precedent and expense, town officials are on record as opposing the proposal.

Wednesday's Special Town Meeting is scheduled to start at 6:45 p.m. inside Wayland High School's auditorium.

Back in June, the School Committee agreed to new contracts with the Wayland Teachers Association and the Wayland Educational Secretaries Association. The new contracts had a start date of July 1.

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However, funding for the contract has to be approved by Town Meeting, and that wasn't scheduled to happen until May 2024. That meant the two unions would not be getting the cost-of-living increase guaranteed by the contract until nearly a year after the pact went into effect, according to Sarah Sontag, president of the Wayland Teachers Association.

"I think everyone — teachers and the support staff — all need this COLA (cost of living adjustment) because the cost of living has gone up so much," said Sontag, who works as a reading specialist at the Loker School.

Citizens petition leads to Special Town Meeting

A citizens petition led by the two educational associations has led to a Special Town Meeting article requesting the contract funded now, rather than wait until May.

The Select Board, during its meeting on Nov. 20, voted unanimously not to support the article. In a statement, the board said a memorandum of understanding between the two sides spelled out how and when funding would go into place.

“The salary increases set forth above for Fiscal Year 2024 will not be implemented until after Wayland Town Meeting approves a transfer of funds from Salary Reserve Account to the School Department budget to cover the cost of increases," according to the memorandum. "The Wayland School Committee agrees to request such approval by Wayland Town Meeting, at the earliest time Wayland Town Meeting convenes during Fiscal Year 2024.”

Select Board opposes Special Town Meeting article

The Select Board, in its statement, said members took that to mean next spring's annual Town Meeting.

“My interpretation of the MOU language is that both sides came to an agreement, a meeting of the minds, that once a Town Meeting is scheduled, whether it be a fall Town Meeting or Annual Town Meeting, that would be the time at which a contract funding article would be proposed," Select Board member Tom Fay said in the statement. "To diverge from that timeline is problematic. Union contracts are often negotiated during all twelve months of the year. It would be far too expensive for the town, in terms of staff time and Town Meeting costs, to hold a Special Town Meeting after each union contract is agreed upon. So much of what we do is based on process and, in this case, I feel that process has been compromised.”

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Sontag said the teachers association never hid from the fact that it planned to petition for a Special Town Meeting, given that the contract would not be funded for 11 months if it waited until annual Town Meeting.

Teachers always planned to ask for Special Town Meeting

"In our MOA, it was clear that we would ask at the earliest Town Meeting that the money would be transferred over," said Sontag. "It was always our intention to seek a Special Town Meeting. The MOA said it would be at the earliest Town Meeting and we knew we would be asking for a Special Town Meeting."

The association got the required 200 signatures to call for the meeting, then went back to get 100 of those same people to add the secretaries' association to the article to allow them to also get funding.

In its statement, the Select Board said its objection isn't about not fulfilling the contract but following procedure.

"Annual Town Meetings normally cost between $40K - $45K," according to the town's statement. "Special Town Meetings are somewhat less expensive. Nonetheless, board members collectively agreed that between the costs of conducting Town Meeting and the need to adhere to process and procedures, this was a warrant article they simply could not support."

Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. For up-to-date news, follow him on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Wayland teachers request negotiated raise start immediately.