Crane teachers to receive a 3% pay increase

Raise in next academic year is among other financial boosts they will get

The Crane School District governing board approved a 3% salary increase to classroom teachers returning for the 2021-2022 academic year, contributing to a cumulative 31.95% boost the district’s teacher pay has progressed toward since 2015-2016.

According to Crane’s executive director of human resources Lupe Lewis, the proposal was built considering district enrollment – which is down 5% currently and reflects a consistent loss in enrollment experienced within the last five years – and the district’s “very conservative” approach to budgeting.

In addition to the 3% increase, classroom teachers are also slated to receive a Prop. 301 base pay increase from $2,700 to $5,000 – a separate addendum from the base salary, Lewis noted. They will also receive a $2,500 one-time retention stipend, with half to be paid in November and half in May, in addition to maintaining the overage stipend for class sizes averaging above 30 students.

The impending raise spans to other positions in the district as well. All other employees – “anybody that doesn’t work in a classroom as a teacher,” Lewis

clarified – will also receive a 3% salary increase and $2,5000 one-time retention stipend paid in two installments.

Lewis noted employees who received a salary increase exceeding 3% in January due to minimum wage adjustment or range adjustments are not eligible to receive an additional 3%. Lewis also noted that since 2015-2016, this employee group has received a cumulative 20.96% salary increase.

“We want to make sure we’re very clear as to who qualifies for this, because we have a lot of different types of employees at Crane,” Lewis said.

Employees who joined the district by January of this year and are currently working – versus those who signed a contract for a July start date – as well as employees who’ve retired and are returning to work under ESI in the upcoming school year qualify for the updated compensation package.

According to Lewis, retention stipends are contingent upon continued employment; employees who resign partway through the school year are not eligible to receive the pay out.

Contracted employees and substitutes – including substitute teachers, substitute food service technicians, substitute bus drivers and contract custodial employees – are not eligible for retention stipends or wage increases.

Part-time employees are slated to receive a proration of the stipend based on the number of hours they work per week.

New hires on an initial placement schedule are proposed to receive a 1% increase and $2,300 Prop 301 increase. The daily rate for substitute teachers will rise to $150.

In terms of benefits, the district plans to maintain its high deductible health plan and dental, vision, short-term disability and life insurance at no cost to employees, as well as its monthly $50 health savings account (HSA) contribution.

One “minor change” to district-afforded benefits pertains to Wellness Your Way program, a voluntary Yuma Area Benefits Consortium (YABC)-approved program through which participating employees currently receive a $20 contribution. In the upcoming school year, the district plans to infuse an additional $30 contribution, meaning that employees participating in both the HSA and Wellness Your Way plans could receive up to $100 per month in employer contributions.

The full presentation can be viewed beginning at the 1:50:00 mark of the district governing board’s April 13 meeting, available online at www.craneschools.org/ live/.