April 4, 2018 at 5:30 p.m.
FRHC teachers to see merit-based raises
The FRHC school board adopted the raises Tuesday as part of a 2015-2016 contract that Superintendent Shawn Price said took administrators and teachers a little more than a month to hammer out.
Under its terms, the district's qualifying teachers will get raises of between 1.5 percent and 4.3 percent, depending primarily on how well they do their jobs. That's a change from last year, when each received a flat bonus of $430 no matter what.
"Obviously, we like to reward good performance when we can," Price said.
That was never a sure thing. Price said funding from the state, which supplies all General Fund dollars, is down this year by about $180,000. But school officials have made up for that shortfall with staffing changes, like from retirements.
Forty-seven teachers work in the district, down from about 52 last school year.
The contract is specific about which teachers qualify for raises. For example, only those teachers who were hired before or during the 2014-2015 school year are eligible, the document states. That means new teachers are unaffected. Additionally, raises can go only to those teachers who have been working in the district at least 120 days, because it takes that much time to qualify for evaluations.
Teachers' union Co-Presidents Wanda Siebert and Stacy Kirk are happy with the terms.
"Teachers appreciate that in spite of the district's declining state revenues, the board values teachers and made it a priority to fund teacher raises," the two said in a joint, emailed statement.
"Both parties worked together to seek resolution."[[In-content Ad]]
