A raise for classified staff at Bremen Public Schools was approved during the school board meeting last Monday.
Classified employees include any position at the school corporation other than teachers and administration such as cafeteria, transportation, maintenance and custodial staff.
School Board President Brian Teall explained that the increased wages for classified staff were approved in coordination with the raises that were included in the master contract for teachers. Teall said a raise of approximately 2.4 percent was approved for teachers a couple of months ago, but some issues at the state level postponed the payments.
Superintendent Jim White elaborated, saying that when establishing contracts with teachers, rather than putting a definitive dollar amount down, the proposed raise is determined by the amount of funding the school is anticipated to receive from the state.
However, this year, Bremen School officials were alerted that there were more students than the state anticipated, so the amount of funding that was initially proposed couldn’t be fully allocated. Dr. White said his led to a delay in raises, which were originally meant to be issued prior to Christmas Break. He added that this was an issue that all school corporations and some municipalities were facing as well.
Dr. White said after coordinating with some state legislators about the matter, a bill was passed that made up the difference and provided the money that the school was expecting. He specifically thanked Senator Ryan Mishler and Representative Jack Jordan for their assistance but said he is grateful to all the co-sponsors of the bill.
With the state funding finally in place, officials had enough to pay the teachers their promised raises and went on to provide wage increases for the classified staff during their most recent school board meeting.
