SPRINGDALE : Teacher pay raise muted by drops
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
SPRINGDALE — The School Board voted to raise teacher salaries Tuesday, but not much, adding $ 625 to each level of the Springdale School District’s pay schedule. That would keep Springdale as the highest-paying district in Northwest Arkansas — unless Bentonville surpasses it when it considers salaries next week.
Starting teachers with bachelor’s degrees will make $ 41, 757 in the 2008-09 school year, an increase from the district’s previous starting salary of $ 41, 132.
That will be applied retroactively to the current school year, and teachers will receive checks equivalent to the raise, assistant superintendent Allen Williams said. The pay schedule assigns salaries based on education and experience.
The total cost of increased certified and classified salaries and benefits will be $ 2. 6 million, Williams said. The pay increases equate to an average of a 1. 21 percent raise for all teachers, a more modest increase than previous years.
Enrollment growth, which topped 900 students in each of the last several years, suddenly dropped to 300 students for the current school year, reducing per-pupil funding provided to the district. The board slashed $ 3. 2 million from the current year’s operating budget, starting the year with just one more dollar in revenues than planned expenditures, Superintendent Jim Rollins said. Throughout the year, teachers and principals teamed together to trim an additional $ 1. 8 million of spending.
“All of us would have liked to have given teachers $ 1, 500, $ 2, 000 or more,” Rollins said. “But the reality is, we just can’t do that.” Northwest Arkansas districts boast the highest teachers’ salaries in the state, and Springdale has typically led the four major cities in the area. There is a chance the district will lose its claim to having the highest paid teaching faculty.
The Bentonville board plans to vote Monday whether to raise each level of its pay schedule by 3 percent, raising base pay from $ 41, 000 to $ 42, 230 and making it the region’s highest, said Steve Potts, Bentonville schools’ executive director of human resources and transportation. When setting pay increases, “you look at a number of factors,” Potts said. “You’re trying to make sure that you’re comparable with other markets, and that you’re keeping up with cost of living and raises in insurance premiums.” In April, Rogers increased each level of its salary schedule by $ 300, raising base pay to $ 41, 300. Fayetteville, which increased its salary schedule last year to remain competitive in the region, pays starting teachers $ 40, 500. Beginning teachers in the district previously earned a $ 35, 969 annual salary. By comparison, salaries in the Little Rock School District start at $ 32, 227 for teachers with a bachelor’s degree and no experience, according to the district’s Web site.
To contact this reporter: eblad@arkansasonline. com
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