The Carroll Community School District (CCSD) Board of Education heard from individuals during the open forum of yesterday’s (Monday) meeting regarding the pay for the teacher associates (T.A.) for the district. Approximately 30 individuals, consisting of teachers, support staff, Carroll Education Association (CEA), and Carroll Educational Support Association (CESA) members, to encourage a wage increase for current and new associates. First to speak was Becky Boes, an English teacher at Carroll High School, advocating for higher pay for the support staff, specifically Carol Danner, who has devoted more than 28 years to the district.
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Josh Peter, seventh-grade social studies teacher for Carroll Middle School, backs raising the pay for teacher associates. Peter says that to keep up with the high needs of the T.A.s, their pay needs to compensate for everything they are asked to do.
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Jesse Strong, Co-President of CEA, says she was thankful for the candidates in the recent school board election to update training and pay to attract and retain quality T.A., and for the recent house bill that passed a subcommittee addressing the base pay for associates.
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The CESA opening proposal is a three-year agreement, increasing the base wage for T.A. by 75 cents per year. By the end of the agreement, the starting wages would range from $15.85 for regular associates to $17.18 for severe special education associates, with increases of 30 cents differential for certified or sub-authorized associates. The district’s initial proposal for the CESA was a one percent increase to wages, Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) and IPERS, and one-year contracts from July 1 to June 30. Each party will consider the following proposals and smaller meetings will be held with each association for negotiations before contracts are officially sent out before the end of this school year.