Big Foot High teachers get two 1-percent pay raises
(Published Friday, February 16, 2007 11:07:18 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Chris Schultz Gazette staff
WALWORTH-Big Foot High School teachers will get a 1 percent pay increase for last school year and another 1 percent increase for this school year under a contract ratified Thursday by the Big Foot School Board.
The total percentage increase for salaries and benefits is 4.2 percent for the first year and 4.5 percent the second year, said Tom Nykl, Big Foot superintendent.
Most of that increase will go to cover the higher cost of health insurance.
And teachers will have to pay higher deductibles, said Michael Manghera, teacher union president. The annual health insurance deductible for individuals will increase from $100 to $250, for families it will increase from $300 to $500, Manghera said.
The 43-member teachers union, Big Foot Educators, voted Feb. 2 to accept the contract.
The agreement gives both sides time to catch their breath before starting negotiations on the next two-year contract in late spring or early summer.
The salary increase raises the base salary for beginning teachers to $29,440 and the top salary-for teachers with 20 years of service, a master's degree and 36 credits toward a doctorate-to $62,634.
According to Manghera, most teachers at Big Foot make between $40,000 to $45,000 a year.
Board action ends long and prickly negotiations.
The last two-year contract expired June 2005. Teachers worked without a contract in 2006, their pay and benefits based on the expired agreement.
This year, teachers wore black on Wednesdays to protest the lack of an agreement and took other job actions such as turning down assignments on school board committees and, on certain days, working exactly eight hours.
