Teachers want pay increased, revamped

Lawrence teachers want a big raise.

After years of bare-bones salary increases in lean budget years, the city’s public school teachers are asking for $4.5 million of the possible $6.2 million in new funding available under the new state school finance law. The district is proposing adding $1.9 million to teacher salaries.

Now district officials and the Lawrence Education Assn. must figure out how to close the gap.

“Our reaction was: ‘OK, that’s interesting. We’ll go from there,'” said Kelly Barker, a teacher and LEA member.

The next meeting is set for 1:30 p.m. today.

Both sides agree that there are flaws in the district’s salary matrix, which dictates how much teachers earn based on experience and education. And both suggested taking dramatically different turns from the current system.

Highlights of LEA, district plans offered Tuesday

LEA proposal

Cost: $4.5 million

¢ Throw out the current salary matrix that sets how much teachers earn based on experience and education.

¢ Build a new matrix with fewer steps. The existing schedule has 275 different moves teachers can take. The proposed schedule has 80.

¢ Set a level for a professional master teacher. For a new teacher, it would take 10 years and a master’s degree to reach this level. The LEA proposes setting this salary at $49,500. Currently a teacher at this level makes $35,613.

¢ Increase all salaries relative to the career master teacher salary. The starting salary would increase from $26,825 to $32,670.

District proposal

Cost: $1.9 million

¢ Ignore the salary schedule. Teachers could not move on the schedule unless their education level changed.

¢ Give all teachers a flat rate increase of $2,001. This increase would not be a one-time-only hike, but would continue in the future.

The LEA’s plan: throw out the current salary structure, build a new one and beef up salaries across the board.

The starting pay would increase from $26,825 to $32,670. And they would create a “master teacher” salary – for educators with a master’s degree and 10 years of experience – at $49,500. Such teachers now make $35,613.

The proposal rewards teachers for experience, Barker said.

“It puts us much, much closer to our competitors,” Barker said.

Their plan would cost the district about $4.5 million, or about 15 percent more than the district currently pays for teacher salaries and related costs.

“We need more time to study something like that,” said Mary Rodriguez, the district’s lead negotiator.

The district’s plan: keep the current salary system for now, don’t move employees on the scale unless their education levels change and give all teachers a flat raise of $2,001. That includes $121 to help employees pay the increased benefit premiums. That plan would cost the district an additional 6 percent more than it currently pays for salaries.

Both sides said their plans addressed the district’s needs to attract and retain good teachers.

The LEA is expected to bring a counterproposal to the table as early as today.

Teachers who gathered to watch the session expressed support for their organization’s proposal. Lawrence High School teacher Sue Neverve said the LEA’s plan would lift teachers’ spirits.

“It’ll definitely help morale,” she said. “It addresses the teachers’ needs and it also addresses the district’s needs.”

District officials say the district’s plan is a fair way to address recruitment and retention issues.

“It addresses everybody,” Rodriguez said.

Officials say Lawrence’s starting wage for teachers lags behind the Blue Valley, De Soto, Eudora, Olathe, Shawnee Mission, Liberty, Mo., and Park Hill, Mo., school districts.