Northgate teachers will not see an increase in their paychecks until next spring, having accepted a six-month pay freeze as part of a new four-year contract with the district.

Also being frozen by the new agreement is the schedule of salary “steps” that govern what teachers will be paid. Although teachers will receive various pay increases while moving up the 17-step schedule, the freeze means that a teacher hired in 2010 and one hired in 2014 will have the same starting salary, according to Northgate School Board member Gary Paladin.

The six-month salary freeze has the effect of moving the anniversary date that triggers future salary increases from September to March, locking in the cost savings for the district rather than just pushing the expense off for a few months, according to superintendent Dr. Reggie Bonfield.

Bonfield said that, to his knowledge, the step schedule had never before been frozen at Northgate.

When teachers do receive a raise next year, it will average 1.97 percent, according to Paladin and Bonfield. Over the course of the four-year contract, salary increases will average 3.3 percent, they said.

Stipends paid to teachers and others for extracurricular jobs also will be frozen at current levels for the next four years.

Paladin said that the school board’s goal while negotiating the contract was to keep payroll cost increases to less than 2 percent. That goal was achieved, he said, as the new contract has costs increasing by only 1.67 percent.

Some higher salary increases were made possible, Paladin said, by the fact that teachers agreed to move their health insurance coverage from a PPO to a less expensive HMO plan, and also to increase the amount they contribute toward the cost of the insurance.

Bonfield said that, as part of the agreement, the district has agreed to bring back three furloughed teachers for the next two years.