Lakeland teachers to receive raises

RATHDRUM — Teachers in the Lakeland Joint School District, and most of the staff, will receive raises of about 5% for the next school year.

The board of trustees approved new salary schedules Monday along with a $51 million general fund maintenance and operations budget that includes the pay bumps.

Much of the cost of the raises will be covered by Gov. Brad Little's Leading Idaho initiative and Senate Bill 1205, which he signed in March.

“We’ll actually have a total of 225 funding units and 308 teachers,” Lakeland Superintendent Lisa Arnold said during a budget workshop April 27.

Arnold said Leading Idaho funds cover roughly two-thirds of the district's staff.

The governor’s bill added $6,359 in funding for each teacher’s salary, but the raises are only for certified staff and based on average daily attendance. Many school districts employ more teachers than state funding provides for under the ADA formula.

Certified staff are classroom teachers and other credentialed positions like counselors, nurses, physical education teachers and music teachers. Their starting salaries will climb from a base level of $41,118 to $47,477 starting in 2024.

The Lakeland board of trustees agreed to provide raises in other positions throughout the district, including administrative and classified positions, covering what the governor’s bill doesn't.

Classified staff are hourly positions that include bus drivers, crossing guards, custodians and other supporting roles that keep campuses running. Classified administrative positions include directors, executive assistants and payroll.

Typically, staff receive annual raises of about 3%, but the board wanted to be consistent with the teacher’s pay increases.

“I want to make sure that we’re not giving any less of an increase to any administrator,” Trustee Bob Jones said.

Teachers will get about $5,500 more a year and can receive stipends for master’s degrees or years of experience that bring total pay up about 6%, or $6,359. The stipends encourage instructors to continue their own education, which adds value to the district.

Leading Idaho money is earmarked, so the district only receives the funding if it spends it on salary increases. Overall, the state covers about three-quarters of the district's budget, with the bulk of other funding coming from local tax revenue.

“When we increased the levy, we increased the staff, because we added programs,” Arnold said. “This board has to decide, do we cut back on programs? Do we try to get more in alignment with where the state is? Or are we comfortable with the programs we’re running and the staff that we have with the levy dollars we have? Do we pare back staffing and increase class sizes?”

Salaries make up 89% of the general fund budget.

The new pay rates added $3.5 million to the district’s expenses, plus another $885,000 for benefits. State funding only increased by about $3.2 million, a difference of about $1.2 million.

“You’ll notice that we are dipping a little bit into fund balance, but we’ve identified some cost savings for that so that we’re not dipping so far into fund balance for next year,” Chief Financial Officer Jessica Grantham said.

Grantham has been working with Treasurer Chelsea Purser to trim expenses since the pair started working together this school year. They’ve already saved the district money on redundancies in the budget and will be looking for more places to save in the coming year.

The board of trustees will also receive regular reports from the CFO to identify programs that are not self-sustaining and hold them financially accountable.