Local teachers will have a little extra cash in their pockets this year, thanks to another successful year of teacher negotiations.

USD 327

According to Joshua Lanning, superintendent of the Ellsworth-Kanopolis-Geneseo USD 327, teachers received an increase of $300 on their base salary of $38,832.

“If I remember right, there were a few adjustments to some percentages for supplemental positions,” he added.

The second piece which was settled during negotiations was one teacher-student contact date (Friday, April 8) was converted to a teacher professional development date.

Lanning said since he came to Ellsworth after negotiations had been settled, he didn’t get to attend any of those discussions. “I just know the details of how it ended,” he noted.

“I just know the details of how it ended,” he noted. Lanning said teachers in the USD 327 schools work really hard.

“Three hundred dollars was not a significant increase,” he said. “I think overall it was somewhere around two percent.”

Lanning said there was concern with last year’s decreasing student enrollment numbers.

“Everybody was just having to be a little more cautious this year,” he said. “We saw a decrease from 631 kids, which our budget was based on this year, but you only get to use that number for two years. And last year’s numbers were in the 570’s, and that was a real concern. They were looking at a major loss. Hopefully now our numbers have rebounded. They were in the 640’s on count day — things are looking much more positive going into next year.”

USD 112

At the Holyrood-based Central Plains USD 112, Greg Clark, superintendent, said teachers received a $400 increase on their base salary of $34,588.

Clark said he thought the negotiations went well.

“We’ve got a great team of teachers we negotiate with,” he said. “Very open and honest discussions. I think we were able to meet everybody’s needs as far as what the teachers were looking for and what the district was looking for.” Clark said the teachers are the heart and soul of

Clark said the teachers are the heart and soul of USD 112.

“I’d always like to give the teachers as big a raise as possible, considering that our general fund is actually going to be down a little bit this year due to the loss of some students,” he said. “But we were still able to give anywhere from a 2.8 percent to a three percent raise for the teachers and help cover some of the increase costs of health insurance.”

Clark said an additional agreement was added to the negotiations that the district will look at using ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief ) monies for maybe a retention bonus or something similar.

ESSER is a federally funded emergency relief program for non-profit schools.

“One of the things I was really proud of was at the end of the school year last year, we are able to give all staff members a $500 bonus out of general fund money because they deserved it,” Clark said. “ They work hard and I would like to do something similar to that this year but use ESSER money this time.”

Clark said the district picked up the added $9 per month cost for health insurance, so the cost teachers are responsible for is the same as it was last year.

Every teacher also received a step down ($433) on the district salary schedule. That was additional money for them.

“The majority of teachers got at least $1,000, if not a little bit more, in pay increases,” Clark added.

Clark said USD 112 teachers have worked so hard during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m so very proud of them and everything that they do on a daily basis,” he said. “With kids being quarantined, kids being sick, all the different changes in schedules and stuff. “