Jackson Heights board votes pay raise for teachers, staff

Teachers and classified staff in the Jackson Heights school district will receive an average pay raise of 4.78 percent for the 2021-22 school year, the USD 335 Board of Education noted at its regular monthly meeting on Monday.

Board members unanimously approved the district’s negotiated teacher salary contract for the upcoming school year, which increases the base salary for teachers by $1,400, from $38,600 to $40,000, and includes $600 “steps” in pay according to each teacher’s level of continuing education and years of service.

The 2021-22 contract came earlier in the calendar year than the 2020-21 contract, which was approved in November of last year after representatives of the board and the North Jackson NEA could not agree on terms of that year’s contract and required at least three mediation meetings.

But the contract for 2021-22 was negotiated quickly and both sides “settled on compensation and all language,” according to Superintendent Jim Howard, who took over as the district’s superintendent on July 1.

Howard said the approved contract also included “a small increase” in the amount that the district will cover in monthly health insurance policy premium payments for teachers.

The district agreed to cover an amount not to exceed $416.24 per month in insurance premium payments for 2021-22, up $11.74 from the monthly coverage of $404.50 during 2020-21.

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