A three-year contract with the Concord Educational Assistants Association, approved by the Concord Board of Education, will create an additional wage step in the first year, followed by 3% increases in the following two years.

Those changes will add $1,081,957.76 in spending compared to current pay over the life of the contract, with more than $600,000 of the total coming from the step changes in the first year, according to Jack Dunn, the school district’s business administrator.

The teaching assistants and tutors union covers 188 total positions but has 161 current members.

Highlights of the new contract also include a retirement incentive for the 18 employees who’ve been with the district for more than 20 years and adjustments to the health insurance plan. The agreement is longer than the current two-year contract.

A one-year agreement with the Concord Instructional Tutors provides for a similar 3% increase.

The new agreements come on the heels of the district’s new three-year contract with the Concord Administrators Association, which represents principals and assistant principals. The contract, which was signed in April, will provide 3.5% increases in the first two years and a 3% increase in the third year. Including a bump in retirement plan matching, it will add $419,336 in spending over three years, according to the district.

As a reference, recently approved agreements with multiple unions mean police officers, supervisors and fire officers employed by the city now receive 5% annual raises. Most other city employees receive 4% annual wage increases.

The agreement with Concord’s teachers’ union expires next year.

The school board is also putting out feelers for a search firm to guide the process of hiring a new superintendent. Current superintendent Kathleen Murphy announced this winter that she would exit her position at the end of next school year. Her annual evaluation will take place in a non-public session in June.

In the nearer term, the district is also in the process of hiring a new assistant superintendent for student services, a job that includes oversight of special education. John Fabrizio — who was named the state special education administrator of the year in March — will depart t he position at the end of this year.

Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmon itor.com. You can subscribe to her Concord newsletter The City Beat at concordmonitor.com.