The Plymouth School Corporation found a way to reward its teachers as part of a Master Contract approved Tuesday night.
The contract is signed on an annual basis between the school corporation and the Plymouth Education Association. As part of the agreement, an increase will be seen in the top tier of the salary range for base pay.
School Board President Todd Samuelson says their talks are often bound by state decisions.
“Unfortunately in that formula, we don’t have a lot of influence, I mean this board directly, other than talking collectively with our state legislature and what’s important in that biennial budget,” says Samuelson. “So that’s on all of us.”
Part of the Master Contract also specifies that when new money becomes available from the state, the percent of new funds allocated toward salaries will increase. Increases in state funding will also be contributed toward insurance premiums.
The teacher’s association ratified their contract last week.
Among the challenges of negotiation was the change in the state funding formula for education. Plymouth did not see an increase in revenue for their budgetary purposes. That didn’t stop the school corporation from dipping into their Rainy Day fund to offer teachers a one-time stipend to compensate for their efforts.
PEA President Laura Kruyer says they appreciated the school corporation’s gestures.
“We really found ourselves in a challenging situation and I know the teachers appreciate that the board was able to access the Rainy Day funds in order to provide a stipend for the teachers,” says Kruyer. “While we would like to offer our teachers more, we have to be financially responsible at the same time.”
Some language changes from the previous year’s contract reflected alterations in state statute.
The Plymouth School Board approved the Master Contract, unanimously.
