School Board Approves Salary Increases For All Support Staff Members

by Eduardo Zamarripa, CRI Weekly News

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Oskaloosa School Board met on special session on Monday and approved the Oskaloosa Support Staff Association (OSSA) Master Agreement for the next two years. By doing so, the board approved a 3.75 percent salary increase for every support staff member for the upcoming school year, and a 4 percent increase for the following year.

The OSSA Master Agreement is the district’s agreement with all support staff members. These staff members include: food services personnel, custodians, bus drivers, secretaries and associates, among others.

“We’re concerned about good, quality employees. Keeping our employees. So when we can provide some raises, we like to do that,” said Superintendent Russ Reiter.

The salary increase will not raise taxes. The tax levy for next school year actually decreased 61 cents, from $15.91 to $15.30. For property owners, that means the school tax levied on properties will decrease $610 for properties with a taxable value of $100,000. Reiter said the increase in salary resembles what other districts are doing across the state.

The board also agreed upon the five legislative priorities it will present to the Iowa School Board Association. Each year in November, members of the IASB meet with legislators in Des Moines. There, they discuss issues that school boards from around the state want legislators to know are a priority. The IASB presents boards with a list of 30 possible priorities. The board chose the following:

• Supports preserving the integrity of the statewide penny sales tax for school infrastructure, including the tax equity provisions of buying down the highest additional levy rates to the state average.
• Supports full state funding to encourage local initiatives to fully comply with current professional development program requirements.
• Supports reform of Iowa’s K-12 education system that: is research based, is focused on student achievement, includes comprehensive assessments to measure the full range and rigor of the Iowa Core, maintains oversight and control by locally elected boards of directors, does not “repurpose” existing education funds, does not impose new mandates unless they are fully funded.
• Supports the repeal of the mandatory school start date, while offering incentives to school districts to provide extended days and/or innovative calendars.  School districts receiving these incentives will evaluate and determine the impact on student learning when establishing the start day for school
• Supports sufficient state revenues to adequately fund public education as Iowa’s number one priority.  IASB opposes erosion of the existing tax base.  IASB supports a fully accounting every two years by state government of the costs of all exemptions, credits or deductions for the income tax, sales tax or property tax.

Lastly, the board also approved a three-year contract for an after school program with the Mahaska County YMCA. The next school board meeting is on August 13.