OFFICIALS: Agreement will get final approval at general assembly in January, pay raises begin now

proved understanding and communications that a major breakthrough has been achieved between the LHSAA leadership and our officials,” LaRosa said. “The agreement we’ve reached provides significant benefits to both parties, which is always a key component to successful negotiations.”

The LHSOA sent out a news release to announce that a new deal was done.

In it, the officials association included a document that breaks down how much referees will be paid.

Referees are set to gain anywhere from $5-$20 more per game with a lot of factors determining exactly how much one is going to be paid. Those factors are the level of one’s certification, the time the game is played (day games pay better because of the difficulty in finding officials) and whether or not the game is part of a tournament.

Local officials seem to think that the deal is fair for all sides. One official, who asked to remain anonymous until everything is formally signed and put into place said it was never about the money, but was more about local officials being given respect for their efforts.

Prior to this deal, the LHSAA had never openly recognized the LHSOA as an affiliate organization.

The agreement will be formally voted on at the LHSAA’s general assembly in January, though the raises will be immediate – even while the vote is pending.

“I’m excited and I think it’s a great thing,” the referee, who officiates football, basketball and baseball in our area said. “I’m happy that they were able to get something done to ensure that we’re able to have a better setup in the future. People want to focus on the money, but it’s not about the money. It’s about fair.”

Prior to the agreement being reached, the LHSAA and LHSOA had been involved in a very public and sometimes ugly negotiation throughout the past several weeks.

The problem started to brew in January when the LHSAA’s general membership voted at its meetings to avoid giving volleyball and basketball officials a pay raise – a hike that was promised to the officials in 2014 during preliminary talks.

It all came to a head throughout the summer when LHSOA Vice President Dr. John Fletcher told a pool of reporters a one-word answer of’Yes,’ when asked if referees would strike if not given more money before the start of the fall.

“We are not going (to work) without a contract,” Fletcher said in early July.

This quote, combined with Hall of Fame coach J.T. Curtis indicating that the 2015 football season “may not happen” sparked public interest on the topic, which seemed to lead the charge to get the deal done.

In preliminary negotiations, the LHSOA was demanding that all LHSAA member schools would be forced to sign binding contracts with the LHSOA in order to use officials at sporting events. But the officials dropped that from the agreed-upon deal once they were given an equal seat on the Officiating Committee.

“There’s more work to do, but we believe the commitment and motivation is there on both sides to immediately apply the required effort to get all provisions of this agreement in place,” LaRosa said.