By Carolyn Cole
Published on August 21, 2008

Almost 95 percent of Mustang teachers voting Monday supported the 2008 proposed contract, which includes a $250-per-year salary boost, in addition to a step increase.

Step raises depend on a teacher’s years of experience and can range from $380 per year to $1,000 per year.

Mustang School Board members are expected to consider the contract in a special meeting at 6 p.m. Aug. 28 at Mustang Administration Building.
Of 483 teachers and certified personnel who cast ballots, 462 voted in favor of the contract, and 21 opposed it.

Greg Johnson, a Mustang Education Association negotiator, said teachers and administrators entered into “inter-space bargaining,” meaning they tried to start from a point of collaboration instead of bartering from extremes and meeting in the middle.

While the $250 increase, which averages out to about $21 per month, is lower than the $375 boost in the 2007 contract, Johnson said Mustang faired better than Edmond and Mid-Del teachers, who are expected to receive a $175 increase.

State lawmakers held school districts’ budgets steady this fiscal year due to their concerns about an economic slowdown and decreasing tax revenue. At the same time, district officials are coping with higher costs for supplies, utilities and fuel.

“We believe and the district believes this could be a very difficult year financially ... we felt like this was a prudent offer, “ Johnson told teachers. “We also felt like that once we survive this year we need to make some gains back on the state salary schedule that we lost last year. We feel that would be important to maintain that gap in the state salary schedule and what Mustang pays with the goal being that we continue to raise salaries.”

Last school year, negotiations took two months longer to complete and stretched into the first quarter of classes. In a statement, 2007 MEA leaders wrote that state lawmakers approved funding for teachers to receive between $600 and $1,400 pay increases, depending on their education and experience, in addition to a step increase.
However the Legislature did not mandate those funds be spent on salary.

Forty percent of teachers participating in last year’s vote rejected the contract.

“We believe that the inordinate amount of “no” votes cast is a direct result of many teachers’ concern that the money provided by the state for teacher raises was being used by the district to pay operational expenses,” MEA leaders wrote in the statement.

This year is different, Johnson said, adding school officials will receive no additional state funding. He said MEA leadership will urge lawmakers to provide more funding in this legislative session for teacher salaries and school operation costs.

“We all know expenses are up for schools,” he said.
While other school districts’ officials have cut bus stops and services to students, Interim Superintendent Bonnie Lightfoot told teachers Mustang will not cut bus routes or staff and will try to maintain class sizes.

“We have always been proponents of making sure our teachers have the very best things to work with and any money we have we are going to guarantee that, over and above what we need to operate these schools and run these schools, it will be given back to teachers,” she said.

If the board approves the contract next week, a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree would start at $33,457 per year in compensation. With five years of experience, the teacher would earn $35,642; 10 years, 38,333; 20 years, $44,202; and 30 years, $51,018.

In school districts following the state’s minimum salary schedule a freshman teacher with a bachelor’s degree starts at $31,600; five years experience, $33,500; 10 years, $35,950; and 20 years, $40,200.

With a master’s degree, a freshman teacher would earn $34,841; at five years experience, $37,471; 10 years, $39,717; 20 years, $46,998; and 30 years, $52,617. In 2007, 23 percent of the district’s faculty held an advanced degree.

Following the state’s minimum salary schedule, a freshman teacher with a master’s degree earns $32,800; five years, 34,700; 10 years, $37,575; and 20 years, $40,200.

Teachers who buy health insurance for their families through the Oklahoma State and Education Employees Group Insurance Board will also face an average 13.6 percent increase in premiums, starting in January. Teachers’ health insurance costs are covered by state funding.

Costs under OSEEGIB’s HealthChoice High Option will increase from almost $500 per month for a spouse to $568. For one child, rates will climb from $181 to $200, and for two or more children from $290 to $343.

“We are glad there is some extra money because it looks like our insurance will go up in January,” Johnson said. “We hope to stay ahead of the game.”