The biggest item on the agenda for the Cape Girardeau School Board meeting Monday night is the approval of its 2013-2014 budget, which includes an increase in the teacher salary schedule and funding to put computers in the hands of high school students.
This year's budget will allot funds to increase teachers' salaries in the district as part of what administrators and board members call a continued effort to keep it competitive with other districts. Board member Stacy Kinder said this is something the board and administration have worked on for years.
"We've been focused on trying to get this done since I was first on the board, about five years ago," she said. "The administration has this conversation with us every year, and this year it just lined up where we could make it happen."
At an earlier board meeting, superintendent James Welker said the goal is to increase teachers' base salary from $31,500 to $35,000 in the next three to four years.
"It's been one of the very top goals of the administration to get the teachers' salaries in line with other districts," Kinder said. "We're not yet where we would like to be, but I think we will be in a few years."
Also in the budget is funding for the 1:1 technology initiative, which was approved unanimously by the board in December after months of discussion. The initiative would integrate technology into classrooms by assigning personal computers to students. The machines would contain digital textbooks and other materials.
Kinder said the plan is to have devices for teachers by August, with training held throughout the summer and fall, and students at Cape Girardeau Central High School would have devices by January.
"There was some initial discussion to just start with the freshman class, but then we decided to distribute them to all of the high school," she said. "There's so much combining of grades in classes that it just wasn't practical to do only one grade. You can't really expect the teachers to do all of these new things with the technology if only part of the class has devices."
The board previously looked at purchasing netbooks for the students, but Kinder said there has been no decision made on the exact type of device. The decision to rent or purchase the devices is being finalized. She did not have the cost of the devices available Friday.
Kinder said all expenses that were expected of the initiative have "fallen in line" with plans made earlier in the year.
"This is certainly one of our newest expenditures, but it's not even our biggest," she said. "There has been some rumors or misinformation about spending on this initiative at the expense of teachers' salaries, and that's not the case. Making the salaries more competitive is something we've really been working toward."
The school board meeting will be at 6 p.m. Monday at the central administration office, 301 N. Clark Ave.
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