Topeka USD 501 teachers, staff and administrators will see raises in 2022-23. Here's how much.
Topeka USD 501 staff will see bigger paychecks this school year, but how much will be determined by each staffer's classification.
The Topeka Board of Education on Thursday approved the ratified, negotiated agreement with the Topeka chapter of the National Education Association teacher's union.
While exact pay rates will vary between teachers with different years of experience and qualifications, the agreement will result in an overall increase of 3.1% in the teacher salary and benefits package.
Each step on the agreement will increase by $500, with the starting salary for a Topeka USD 501 teacher increasing to an even $46,000 in 2022-23.
Jeremy Gibson, president of NEA Topeka, said he was very pleased with the agreement, which took four days of negotiation late in the summer. Beside salary, he said one highlight of the new agreement is a cap on the increase in health insurance premiums for the next three years, which should give some peace of mind to teachers.
More: Laura Kelly calls herself the 'education governor.' Derek Schmidt says she broke promises.
Other USD 501 staff members will see similar raises
He declined to share exact numbers, but he said NEA Topeka members overwhelmingly ratified the agreement over the first few weeks of school. While the agreement doesn't necessarily keep up with a surge in inflation, he said people had to remember how public schools are funded.
"You have to understand that education is funded publicly," he said. "Everything went up, and the district has a budget that is set."
More: Substitute teacher eligibility expanded in face of 'worst educator shortage' in history
Other staff, whose contracts and benefits are typically modeled after the negotiated agreement with teachers, saw similar increases. Administrators will all receive salary increases of approximately $1,000, while classified staff will all receive a pay increase of at least 48 cents per hour or $1,000 if they are paid on a 12-month salary rate.
Board vice president Sue Bolley, who wasn't on the district's negotiating team but sat in on negotiations, said the board was excited to give staff a raise.
"We really appreciate our employees, and we really want them to know how much we appreciate them," she said. "Everyone on the negotiating team looked really hard to find the money, even though we're losing money because of (declining) enrollment. We really value our staff, and we wanted to let them know that."
More: With incentive program, Topeka USD 501 staff face dilemma — go to work sick or lose $2,000
Raises separate from retention and recruitment incentive plan
The rise in pay is in addition to and separate from a retention and recruitment incentive program Topeka USD 501 announced in August.
Under that program, frontline staff — or most any staff in a role directly working with children — are eligible to receive up to $8,000, split up in four payments, for reaching or exceeding 95% attendance each school quarter. Non-frontline staff, such as district administrators, are eligible for a total of $6,000 between four payments.
More: The future of Kansas education starts with pizza boxes and a one-room schoolhouse
The program came under some criticism from staffers and community members who argued the $20 million program, funded by federal COVID-19 relief dollars, could introduce a moral hazard in inadvertently incentivizing staff to attend school while sick.
Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at 785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topeka USD 501 teachers to get pay raises in 2022-23 school year
