FAYETTEVILLE -- School District teachers and other employees will receive an increase in salary partly to stay competitive with other Northwest Arkansas districts, board members said.
The School Board voted 5-0 Thursday to give classified staff members a step increase of 2.5 percent, and certified staff members will receive an average increase of 2.5 percent, consisting of a step increase with a 1.5 percent increase to the base rate for the 2018-19 school year.
Step Increases
A salary step is an incremental increase in salary based on previous qualifying professional experience. An employee can earn more money the longer he or she stays with the district.
Source: Staff report
For example, starting pay for a beginning teacher with a bachelor's degree would make about $45,990, a $680 boost.
All of these increases will cost the district an additional $640,000 annually.
This make the second consecutive year for districtwide raises for teachers.
Board members unanimously voted at their July 2017 meeting to set the district's beginning teacher pay above $45,000 a year. They passed a $3,000 increase to base salaries for all certified teaching staff and an average 3.5 percent raise for classified staff, including bus drivers, cooks, custodians and administrative assistants.
Board members said at a May 9 discussion the increases will benefit experienced teachers who have higher salaries more than last year's raise, which disproportionately rewarded less experienced teachers.
"The raise was both to be more competitive and to also provide what we think is a deserved raise for the professionals in our classrooms," said Justin Eichmann, board president. "This is possible because of good financial management and growth in the community. These are two very substantial raises over the course of two years. It's not going to be able to continue every year, obviously, but we feel like this has put us in the position to hire and retain the best teachers."
The school district has higher average salaries than Rogers and Bentonville, but is still behind Springdale.
Springdale's School Board also passed a salary boost of about 1 percent at its June 5 meeting. The district's starting pay for a beginning teacher with a bachelor's degree will now be almost $48,000.
In other business, Fayetteville's School Board approved a music quote of $64,925 and math program of $694,760. The district will purchase a five-year license from Quaver Music for kindergarten through sixth grade resources and online site access. The math curriculum quote is for a three-year subscription for I-Ready Math and for professional development.
The board also approved a technology equipment quote for $527,809, which will go to laptops and accessories.
NW News on 06/29/2018