KEARNEY, Neb. — Teachers and staff at Kearney Public Schools will be getting pay raises and increased benefits as part of a new agreement between the local union and the district.

The KPS Board of Education voted to ratify the negotiated agreement at its meeting Monday night. Officials say the new terms were guided in part by one of the district’s strategic pillars, teacher recruitment and retention.

“The teams kept a focus on the improvement of the existing work conditions for teachers in KPS while also making our school district more competitive in salary and benefits packages,” Superintendent Jason Mundorf said in a news release.

Some of the highlights of the new agreement include raising base pay from $38,000 to $39,300 for beginning teachers, increasing district contribution for family insurance from $4,150 to $5,350 for all teachers and increasing pay for activity workers to $16 an hour.

In the agreement, the district says it will add e-sports, girls and boys bowling and girls wrestling programs and hire coaches for the new sports. Extra-curricular stipends will increase by 1%.

“This agreement recognizes teachers’ hard work and contributions to our students' education and reflects the board’s commitment to recruiting and retaining high-quality educators,” KPS Board of Education President Drew Blessing said.

Kearney Education Association Representative Kevin Witte says the negotiations team is pleased with the agreement.

“This year, we intensified our focus on finding opportunities to offer compensation and policies that strongly support the retention of current staff and enhance the district's ability to attract and recruit the best possible candidates for open positions,” Witte said.

In addition to the certified agreement, the Board of Education approved a 5% increase in pay for classified and classified exempt employees and a 3.5% raise for administrative positions.

Full list of changes:

  1. KPS will Increase base pay in Step 1 from $38,000 to $39,300 for beginning teachers.
  2. KPS will Increase the district contribution for family insurance from $4,150 to $5,350 for all teachers.
  3. All new and all current first-year certified staff members will be placed at Step 3 on the (23-24) salary schedule giving all new teachers an increase in pay.
  4. All years of service will be accepted for new hires (23-24). 
  5. KPS will add Step X to the extra duty schedule.  Program Special Education will include Life Skills, Level II, TLC, Transition, and PSD and will assume Step X on the schedule.  Special Education Program teachers will remain at each Level for two years before moving to the next level.  
  6. Extra-curricular stipends will increase by 1%.
  7. KPS will add the following extracurricular programs:  E-Sports (1 Head Coach), Girls & Boys Bowling (2 Head Coaches), Girls Wrestling (1 Assistant Coach & 1 Head Coach), and 1 District HAL Coordinator.
  8. KPS will increase Activity Worker's pay to $16.00 per hour.
  9. KPS will move to a paid time off (PTO) leave model for teaching staff:
    • 16 PTO days annually.
    • Bank up to 50 days (Cash out any days over 50 at the end of the year)
    • The daily rate is $100 per day (buyout to get down to 50)
    • Teaching staff may rollover one unused Personal Day to PTO