Cape Girardeau school officials OK 2.29 percent pay increase for teachers

The Cape Girardeau School District is taking steps to make starting teacher salaries more comparable with other districts in the area, school officials said Wednesday.

The school board set employee salary schedules during a special meeting. Starting pay for teachers will increase by $93 to $29,463 next year. On average teachers will receive a 2.29 percent increase. Last year, beginning salaries increased by $220; the average increase for all teachers was 2 percent.

The district is also starting a five-year plan to unfreeze pay levels for teachers, making it easier to increase starting salaries.

A comparison with districts like Jackson, Farmington, Mo., and Sikeston, Mo., showed that Cape Girardeau had a lower starting salary, said superintendent Dr. James Welker. He said the district compared itself to districts of comparable size and smaller districts.

Under the current pay schedule, teachers starting at a certain level, based on education and experience, receive the same pay for five years. Next school year, teachers in the fifth year of a level will receive more money than teachers with one to four years at that level. Each year will be unfrozen during the next five years, provided funding is available, said Misty Clifton, the district's director of finance.

"The reality basically is, in order to bring our starting salaries up, we need to make this adjustment," Welker said.

Officials also recommended removing the pay difference between elementary and secondary school administrative assistants.

"They really are doing the same amount of work but are paid differently," Welker said.

Next year, hourly pay for a first-year elementary assistant is $10.66, compared to $11.35 for a first-year secondary assistant. Clifton said their separate classifications will be eliminated so they are paid at the same level, if funding is available when schedules are set next year.

Among other discussions at the meeting, board members expressed concern about the transparency of the facilities planning process. A steering committee has been meeting since February to formulate a districtwide construction and renovation plan. The district held three forums in March to receive public input.

Board members said the steering committee meetings were not publicized enough and public involvement was not encouraged.

"The more we put it out there that it's open, the easier it's going to sell what we're doing," said board member Paul Nenniger.

Members decided the minutes of previous steering committee meetings should be posted online.

abusch@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

301 N. Clark Ave., Cape Girardeau, MO