Thatcher – Teachers and employees in the Thatcher Unified School District will be getting raises in the upcoming school year, over and above the raises recently approved by state lawmakers.
Thatcher School Superintendent, Dr. Kevin Spiller, outlined the salary increases in a presentation to the Thatcher School Board at Special board meeting, Wednesday night.
Dr. Spiller said that the district’s number one goal was to reallocate resources to help free up money to raise salaries. Spiller said the district has been working on the salary increase since last September.
Some of the money for salary increases is coming from administrative positions that have been vacated and will not be replaced. The district will be outsourcing the cafeteria program which will save the district in excess of $105,000 that can also be rolled into salaries. Dr. Spiller said that the district has in excess of $467,520 to allocate to increased salaries.
Certified Employees
Teachers must either be certified or working toward certification to work in the public school system. The first level of salary increases will go to teachers on the certified salary schedule. The district will be giving a 16% salary increase to 85% of the teachers on the certified salary schedule. The other 15% will receive at least a 10% salary increase. The amount of increase is dependent upon current salary and salary caps imposed by the state. Dr. Spiller said that this increase will put district salaries on par with other school districts.
The base salary for certified teachers has increased from $30,731 to $34,701.
Classified Staff
Classified staff are school employees that do not need certification or licensure to perform their job duties.
Employees who work 30 hours or more will receive a $1.50 per hour increase. This amounts to an average increase of 10% and a minimum of 8%.
Employees who work less than 30 hours will receive a 75 cent per hour increase, which is at least a 6% increase.
Administration
All administrative staff will be getting a $5,000 increase which amounts to at least an 8% increase.
These salary increases will take effect in the upcoming school year.
