By SANDY McGEE

CUMBERLAND — The Cumberland Teachers’ Association (CTA) has filed a motion in Superior Court to vacate a recent arbitration ruling that involves salary steps for teachers.

On Wednesday, the Cumberland School Committee released a statement regarding the CTA’s action.
“As a result of the action of the Cumberland Teachers’ Association, the School Committee has directed legal counsel to file a motion to confirm the award,” wrote School Committee Chair Donald J. Costa in the statement. “We are confident in the negotiated salary scale and analysis of the arbitrator which found in favor of the School Committee, but disappointed additional taxpayer dollars must be expended to support our claim.”
The School Committee said, in the statement, that the CTA’s move “could ultimately cost the school department and the town of Cumberland over $1.2 million.”
“I am disappointed,” Costa said. “Once again, we will have to wait. It could be months and months in court. Now, we will have to spend money on a legal counsel.”
Officials for the CTA referred all questions on Wednesday to their legal counsel at the National Education Association Rhode Island (NEARI).
Efforts made to reach an NEARI representative were unsuccessful.
In September 2006, the CTA ratified a new three-year contract that was designed to place most teachers at the state average salary for teachers by 2008. The new contract also called for a reduction in salary steps from the previous 12 to 10 in the second  year of the contract.
However, the CTA said they began noticing in 2007 that some teachers were not receiving pay from the correct salary step.
The CTA submitted a grievance in September 2007 and later filed for arbitration in October of the same year.
After a year and half of reviewing the contract and evidence, arbitrator Lawrence E. Katz of the American
Arbitration Association presented his 76-page ruling in December.
According to the release from the School Committee, “a neutral arbitrator from the American Arbitration Association ruled that the Cumberland School Committee has placed Cumberland teachers at the correct salary level for the 2007-2008 school year, as well as the 2008-2009 school year.”
According to the School Committee’s statement, “the final decision found that the School Committee had not violated the contractual provisions of the agreement and that the School Committee was paying all teachers on the proper step and at the proper salary.”
“They (the CTA) are the ones that took it to arbitration,” Costa said. “The arbitrator ruled in the school department’s favor.”
The School Committee chair said he wants officials to move past this issue in order to negotiate the new CTA contract.
“Let’s move forward,” Costa said. “We are currently in the process of negotiating a new contract. We still have to go forward.”
The three-year teachers’ contract is set to expire on Aug. 31.
To view the full 76-page arbitration ruling, visit the the Cumberland School Department’s Web site at www.cumberlandschools.org.