The Plymouth School Board ratified the Master Contract with the corporation teachers during their October 2 meeting. The PEA (Plymouth Education Association) membership had ratified the contact by unanimous vote on the Wednesday prior to the board’s ratification. Board Vice-president Larry Holloway was absent from the meeting, making the vote 4-0.
Laura Kruyer, co-president of PEA said, “PEA entered negotiations anticipating that PCSC would once again receive less money from the state. With financial challenges in mind, PEA set the goal of maximizing certified salary savings and maintaining financial viability.”
Kruyer added, “The $621 base pay increase is a 1.8 percent for a beginning teacher and less than a 1 percent increase for those teachers at the top of the scale.” “While a raise is a positive, there is more work to be done to make teacher’s salaries competitive with other comparable professions.”
As she has stated during previous meetings, Kruyer said, “Teacher’s throughout the state of Indiana are struggling to keep up with inflation and the cost of living as less and less money is becoming available for public education.”
In order for a teacher to be eligible for the $621 base salary increase, they must be a full-time, have been rated as highly effective or effective the previous year, and worked a minimum of 120 days.
Teachers pursuing additional credentialing or licensure can receive a $500 stipend upon successfully completing and passing the course work. They can receive a stipend one time each semester and once during the summer break.
If grant monies become available, teachers would be paid $18.31 per hour for the time they spend in professional development training that is approved by the corporation and completed outside contracted days and hours.
In order to offer more AP (Advanced Placement) or Dual Credit Courses, staff who teach at least one AP Course or who teach at least one dual credit course may receive a $700 stipend from a budgeted $20,000 through Title II.
In other matters, Superintendent Andy Hartley advised the board of the current enrollment of the PCSC schools as well as a comparison over the past five school years. The State of Indiana verifies enrollment two times per school year and compensates school corporations on a per child rate.
As of September of the 2018-2019 school year, the enrollment is 3470.45 down from 3513 for the 2017-2018 school year. There has been a steady decline since the 2014-15 year when enrollment was 3726; in 2015-2014 at 3665 , and 2016-2017 at 3598.61.
According to Hartley, the decreased enrollment has meant a loss of $1.7 million dollars. Referring to the monetary loss, Hartley said, “We’ve taken steps to be good stewards.”
Carol Anders Correspondent
