Springdale raises minimum teacher pay to highest in the state

SPRINGDALE -- The School District's minimum teacher salary will increase to $50,282 for the upcoming school year, the highest in the state.

The School Board on Tuesday approved adding $1,500 to the certified salary schedule for a beginning teacher with a bachelor's degree. Certified salary schedules are based on experience and education. The increase will raise the average teacher pay about 2.5%, according to Kelly Hayes, deputy superintendent of finance.

Board members also approved a corresponding 2.5% increase in pay for classified staff, which include office staff, food service employees, maintenance workers and nurses. The board made several other adjustments to classified staff salary schedules.

"We believe the money that comes into the district should be used to support student achievement and learning, and that student achievement and learning really is facilitated by the teachers and principals and classified staff in those buildings," said Superintendent Jared Cleveland. "We believe in order to recruit teachers and keep teachers, we need to pay them really, really well."

Springdale -- the largest district in the state with about 21,800 students as of last fall -- has approximately 1,800 certified staff and 1,000 classified employees, Cleveland said. The increase in certified staff pay will cost approximately $2.75 million and the increase in classified salary schedules will cost an estimated $975,000, Hayes said.

Considering the economic environment and impact of inflation, the district wanted to do everything it could for employees, Hayes said. As property values increase, the district is seeing an increase in revenue generated from property taxes, he said. The state is also increasing by 2.3% the amount of per-pupil foundation funds for the 2022-23 fiscal year, from $7,182 to $7,349 per student.

The district is also saving money by eliminating about 30 positions of employees who've retired, Cleveland said.

Between the increase in money coming in and the decrease in positions, the board feels comfortable increasing pay, said Randy Hutchinson, incoming board president.

Hutchinson voted in favor of increasing pay along with board members Debbie Creek, Kevin Ownbey and Clinton Bell. Board members Eddie Ramos, Michelle Cook and Nick Emerson were not present.

The board tries to pay employees as much as possible while still running the district efficiently, Hutchinson said. Being the top-paying district in the area also helps the schools hire the best employees, he said.

The Fayetteville School District approved in January a minimum salary of $50,000 for first-year teachers with a bachelor's degree starting July 1, which would have made it the highest-paying district in the state for the 2022-23 school year. Arkansas' minimum teacher pay is increasing by $4,000 this year to $36,000.

Other classified salary schedule adjustments will include adding an extra experience step, for a total of 19 steps, Hayes said. Salary schedules for maintenance, custodial and child nutrition staff will also be simplified so they make more sense for people coming in from the outside, he said.

Deaf education interpreters will get a significant increase in pay and the director of nursing will be moved to index pay rather than a stipend to attract more people to apply for the position, Hayes said.

Minimum teacher salaries

School district^2021-22^2022-23

Bentonville^$47,799^ $48,755

Fayetteville^$47,450^$50,000

Fort Smith^$38,500^$44,000

Rogers^$47,250^$48,000

Springdale^$48,792^$50,282

Source: NWA Democrat-Gazette