Pueblo D60 teachers set for 12.5% pay increase through tentative agreement with district

Pueblo School District 60 struck a tentative agreement with the Pueblo Education Association union Wednesday to increase teacher, school nurse and counselor salaries about 12.5% districtwide and establish a starting teacher salary of $45,000.

The tentative, two-year agreement was reached after two months of negotiations. It is pending approval by the PEA board of directors, PEA general membership and Pueblo D60 Board of education. In addition to raising salaries for teachers, nurses and counselors across the district, the agreement also increases Pueblo D60's monthly insurance contribution from $520 to $600 per employee.

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While the salary increases in the new agreement are less than what PEA originally asked for, union president Mike Maes said he was "very pleased" with the outcome of negotiations.

"Twelve-and-a-half is a bigger increase than I think we have ever received in District 60," he said. "I think teachers will be very pleased with that. The addition of $80 extra for insurance contribution is also huge."

Pueblo D60's 2022-23 salary schedule gave starting teachers with a bachelor's degree $40,158. PEA began negotiations with the district by requesting that starting salaries be increased to $50,000, with about a 25% increase in teacher salaries districtwide.

During negotiations, two large poster boards with a multitude of signatures from teachers, nurses and counselors were on display in the Pueblo D60 Administration Building. Poster boards also listed the intentions of PEA's negotiation campaign, including a desire to attract new teachers by raising starting salaries to $50,000, to retain existing staff members with adequate pay increases and to ensure student success.

While Pueblo D60 proposed a schedule that would have raised the starting salary to $50,000 and another that would have raised it to $47,000, PEA did not agree to either proposal due to dissatisfaction with those proposals' pay increases for experienced teachers.

"The $50,000 ... that was just too cost prohibitive," Maes said. "We weren't able to reach a point where both sides could agree on what that would look like, so we reached a compromise of $45,000, which obviously is something both sides are able to agree to."

If the tentative schedule is approved, the $45,000 annual salary for those with bachelor's degrees will increase about 2.2% with each "step," or year of service. Those with master's degrees will have a starting salary of $49,281 with similar step increases. The total increase will cost the district about $8.1 million.

Pueblo D60's negotiation team was led by Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Eric DeCesaro.

“I feel that the district and PEA worked well together to get this done," he said. “We value our teachers, and we hope that this agreement shows that.”

PEA Vice President Justina Carter said the success of negotiations can be attributed in part to a growing and committed general membership.

"There's been up to 100, over 100 members in the room for bargaining this year, which is more than we've ever had before," she said. "It really has made a great difference for everything that has happened."

Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo D60 and teacher's union reach agreement to increase teacher pay