EDUCATION

Tentative contract agreement gives beginning teachers an increase of less than 2%

Roger McKinney
Columbia Daily Tribune

With a national inflation rate of 6%, the tentative contract agreement reached between the Columbia Teachers' Union and the Columbia Board of Education increases the salary of a new teacher by 1.6% to $40,900.

That was among the details worked out over weeks of negotiations in collective bargaining sessions, said Noelle Gilzow, president of the Columbia Missouri National Education Association.

It's at a time when state workers are receiving an 8% wage increase, as are teachers in the Kansas City school district. School bus drivers are receiving an 8% increase, though Gilzow said they were starting at much lower pay.

"We did not get a cost of living increase for teachers, which would have been an addition of $2,576 to the base," Gilzow said.

Independence Public Schools had a 250% increase in applications with increased pay and a four-day week, Gilzow said.

There's been no consideration of a four-day week in Columbia Public Schools, she said.

Negotiations have been streamlined in the past few years in order to get contracts out to teachers more quickly, Gilzow said.

"The concern there is there were teachers who were waiting on their contracts who ended up finding other jobs," Gilzow said. "To keep us competitive, we had to move up the schedule."

A stipend for teachers with a doctorate in philosophy was discontinued, Gilzow said.

Teachers will receive one to three additional profession development days in their schedule under the tentative agreement, she said.

Teachers also will receive additional pay for professional development outside of their contract and for summer school, Gilzow said.

All teachers and those on the teacher salary schedule, including counselors, will vote on the tentative agreement, with the school board scheduled to vote on it next month, Gilzow said.

This is the second year of a two-year agreement, said CPS spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark.

"The district is pleased to have a tentative agreement that allows for improvement to salaries," Baumstark wrote in an email. "The district also offered additional professional development days and an increase to the rate of pay for approved professional development activities outside of contracted time."

Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on Twitter at @rmckinney9.