Without comment, the Portage School Board ratified a contract with teachers Monday that gives them an average 9.5% raise.
The new contract is retroactive to July 1 and it elevates a starting teacher’s salary from $42,500 to $47,000. The salary for a teacher at the top of the pay scale increases to $77,900.
The Portage Association of Teachers membership ratified the contract earlier this month.
School board attorney Ken Elwood said the contract showed progress in salary boosts for teachers, citing the starting salary at $36,000 five years ago.
The $5,000 pay increase is broken into two parts. One is dependent on a teacher’s performance evaluation and the second is based on working 120 days in the previous year.
No one spoke at a public hearing that preceded the board’s ratification vote.
— Carole Carlson
