Bremen School Board members ratified the teachers’ contract for next year when they met Monday night. Superintendent Dr. Jim White shared that there were some significant changes to compensation approved in the new contract.
Dr. White explained, “This year we decided to utilize a new method of compensation that was put out by the state called closing the gap and the idea is to help close the difference between the highest paid teacher and the lowest paid teacher and in doing so we were able to move our starting salary from $34,000 to $36,000.”
Dr. White noted that the increase to the starting pay rate will be beneficial for attracting new hires.
In addition to the salary increase, the contract also included a change to employee insurance plans.
“For the first time in nine years, we were able to add more money to our board contribution for the insurance plan.” Dr. White continued, “We moved our single plan significantly so that now if an employee is hired in and they choose our most affordable option on the single side, it will only cost them a dollar.”
Dr. White mentioned that this insurance option is not limited to teachers, as it is also available to classified employees and support staff members.
