Some teachers at Greenwood schools will see their salaries increase by almost 14% a year after they went without a raise due to budget constraints from the coronavirus pandemic.

The school board unanimously approved the new salaries for teachers, along with next year’s $48.9 million budget, a nearly 3% increase from this year’s $47.6 million according to district data.

The $29.8 million education fund includes money for salaries and benefits for teachers, classroom assistants, principals and any other employees directly related to building-specific education. The education fund also covers any educational materials, such as science lab materials and any software and licensing teachers need for electronic programs.

The base pay for a teacher at the district will increase to $47,258 from $41,571, the highest minimum salary for a starting teacher among any district in the county. The top salary for a teacher at the district will increase to $85,000 from $76,929.

Administrators and support staff, such as bus drivers, custodians and food service workers all received 10% pay raises, and the minimum wage for almost all employees increased to $15.33 an hour from $13.94, said Todd Pritchett, assistant superintendent.

“Employees understood and agreed to putting any raises on hold (last year). We would honor any money from last year. For all schools, we received a significant increase in funding from the state. We focused on teacher compensation,” Pritchett said.

With the extra money from the state, the district budgeted more than $2 million more than it did last year, according to district data.

The other three funds that make up the budget include the operations fund, debt service fund and rainy day fund, and the amounts the school board passed for those three areas are roughly the same as they were this year.

The $12.5 million operations fund covers salaries of employees who aren’t specifically tied to education, such as bus drivers, custodians and food service works, as well as administrators who aren’t tied to a specific school building, such as the superintendent and assistant superintendents.

The $3.9 million debt service fund covers any projects the district undertakes that haven’t been paid off, including construction of Greenwood Community Middle School and improvements at Greenwood Community High School, Pritchett said.

The $2.7 million rainy day fund is reserve money the district has set aside for emergency purposes.

The budget will now head to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance for approval, which typically takes place toward the end of the calendar year.

BY THE NUMBERS

Here’s a look at Greenwood schools’ 2022 budget:

Total: $48,865,393

Education: $29,851,179

Operations: $12,452,465

Debt Service: $3,892,786

Here’s a look at how that compares to this year’s budget

Total: $47,560,585

Education: $27,729,686

Operations: $13,000,000

Debt Service: $4,145,276

Rainy Day: $2,685,623

Source: Greenwood Community School Corporation