ThePennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) and Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract with non-faculty coaches at the 14 PASSHE Universities.

The new collective bargaining agreement, which would run through June 30, 2007, must be ratified first by the APSCUF membership, then by PASSHE’s Board of Governors before it can take effect.

The tentative agreement includes:

• General pay increases of 3 percent each year in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Coaches also would be eligible to receive merit increases of up to 2.5 percent in each of the next two years based on their performance evaluations. The tentative agreement, which would be retroactive to July 1, 2004, does not include any pay increases for 2004-05.
• A one-time cash payment for regular full-time and part-time coaches who have 10 or more consecutive years of service with PASSHE. Eligible coaches would receive a payment equal to $50 per year for each year of service.
• A health insurance premium co-payment beginning in January 2006. Non-faculty coaches would be required to contribute an amount equal to one-half of 1 percent of their salary toward the cost of their health insurance. That amount would increase to 1 percent of their salary in January 2007.

Under the terms of the tentative agreement, regular full-time and part-time non-faculty coaches whose “rolling” contracts are not renewed would be able to request in writing from their University president or designee the reasons for the non-renewal.

APSCUF represents the approximately 350 non-faculty coaches at the PASSHE Universities, as well as about a dozen coaches who are faculty members and who are covered by a separate contract. The tentative agreement would replace the most recent contract with the non-faculty coaches, which expired June 30, 2004.

About 8,400 student athletes participate in more than two dozen men’s and women’s intercollegiate sports at the PASSHE universities. The majority of the teams participate in the NCAA Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC).

With nearly 106,000 students, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. The 14 PASSHE universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Nearly 400,000 PASSHE alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. PASSHE also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Kittanning, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.