SALARIES: TEACHERS GET 2.8 PERCENT RAISE

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Sal~aries for Cape Girardeau public school teachers and administrators will rise an average of 2.8 percent for the 1991-92 school year.

The Board of Education approved a salary package at a special meeting Tuesday. The package will cost the district an additional $553,732, said Larry Dew, business manager.

In addition to a salary increase, each teacher and administrator will get a one-time bonus of $700. The bonuses, to be given in September, make up $225,000 of the total cost of the package.

Pat Ruopp, school board president, said: "We're pleased with the recommendation and feel very good about it. Given the budget we have, this seems affordable."

Myrnita Grantham, chairman of the Cape Girardeau Community Teachers Association salary committee, said: "Basically, the teachers are quite pleased with the salary package. With the financial situation of the state, we feel we are very lucky in Cape Girardeau."

The average teacher salary for the district will be $27,240. This year's average was $26,940.

Teachers' salaries are figured on a table that takes into account the number of years of experience and education completed. The percentage of increase at each step on the scale varies from 1 percent to 3.18 percent, Dew said.

The salary for beginning teachers with a bachelor's degree and no experience will remain the same as last year, $19,400.

Grantham said, "In viewing the beginning salaries in the region, we're very competitive."

Ruopp said: "In an ideal situation we would want that starting salary to be up to the national average. Perhaps in successive years it will be."

The top salary on the schedule that of a teacher with 25 years experience and a master's degree plus 30 additional graduate hours will be $36,060. Eleven teachers in the district are above that maximum salary. They will receive an increase of 1.015 percent.

The local teachers association recommended Monday that the board approve the package. Salary-package proposals are negotiated by teacher representatives and administrators before being presented to the board for final approval.

Newly-hired Superintendent Neyland Clark's salary package has not been finalized, Ruopp said, explaining his contract has not yet been signed.

He said the salary will be "in the $70,000 range, generally speaking." The board and Clark are still discussing other parts of his benefit package, he said.

Other administrators' salaries for the coming year are:

James Englehart, director of secondary education, $62,400.

Richard Bollwerk, director of elementary education, $56,500.

Larry Dew, business manager, $59,150.

Calvin Chapman, coordinator of special services, $55,484.

Gary Gilbert, director of Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School, $58,471.

Secondary principals' salaries range from $50,800 to $57,800. Assistant secondary principals' salaries range from $48,400 to $52,180.

Elementary principals' salaries range from $45,300 to $49,000.

Included in the general salary package is the district's increased costs of insurance. The board earlier accepted a Blue Cross-Blue Shield Alliance plan containing a 7 percent cost increase. The teachers' insurance committee had recommended another insurance plan that would have contained a 12 percent increase.

The Alliance insurance plan will cost the district an additional $41,022.

The board also approved two personal leave days for teachers, who no longer must give a reason for taking the days. Teachers must give 48-hours' notice, though.

Grantham said teachers were pleased that the personal days really become days for personal use.

"This is something we have worked for for a number of years," she said. "In the past we had to write a letter and give a reason. Many people felt if it was a personal day they would like it to remain personal."

An additional 10 percent of the total salary increase is added to the incidental fund for retirement costs.

Dew said teachers in salary negotiations expressed interest in investigating early retirement incentives. Dew said he is beginning to gather information about early retirement plans and the proposal likely will be discussed more fully next year.

Grantham said, "Many school districts in the state of Missouri have this."

She explained that teachers with the most education and the most years of experience earn the highest salaries. "When money becomes an issue, that is one way to save some money," she said.