By HANK MURPHY

editor@woodcountymonitor.com

Teachers in the Mineola school district will see significant pay increases after trustees Monday night approved raises across the board. The money to be spent on teachers salaries exceeds the amount required under House Bill 3.

“We value our employees and their commitment to Mineola,” said Supt. Kim Tunnell. “We want to be competitive in attracting high quality teachers to the district.”

Rookie teachers and those with up to four years experience will see a minimum salary increase of $3,000 a year, according to Tunnell. Raises given to that class of educators will average 6.5%. A teacher just starting out in Mineola will receive a salary of $38,000 per year.

Teachers with five or more years of experience can expect a minimum annual raise of $3,600, Tunnell said. The average raise for those teachers will be 7.8%, and some highly experienced teachers stand to make up to $5,600 a year more.

Clerical and support staff will receive raises of 3%, and administrative salaries will increase an average of 1.5%.

HB 3, which was passed unanimously this year by the Legislature, provides $6.5 billion for raises and improvements to public education as well as $5.1 billion to lower school property taxes.

Overall, MISD will have about $1.5 million in new funding from the state, and 30% of that is required to go toward lifting salaries. Of that 30%, MISD will spend $591,362 on district-wide salary increases, well above the approximately $450,000 required by the state. Of the $591,362 in new spending for salaries, $461,820 is dedicated solely to teachers, which is almost $125,000 more than what HB 3 requires.

In other business Monday, the board approved a contract for fourth-grade teacher Regina Reynolds and voted to enlist the services of Eagle Fuel & Oil to provide fuel for the district.