The Sulphur Springs Union School District and its Classified School Employees Association, Chapter No. 298, approved a tentative agreement during the last governing board meeting with a new salary schedule, or about a 10% salary increase across the board for classified employees.
“As I’ve been told, our relationship with CSEA is really positive,” said Jay Greenlinger, assistant superintendent of personnel/pupil services. “The same approach to negotiating, so it’s really positive and productive process.”
“It resulted in something that we can be proud of in terms of how we’re improving the financial state for our employees,” he continued.
The biggest piece of the negotiation was on ongoing salary increase, approximately 10%, per unit member, according to Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Joshua Randall.
“One of the nice collaborative pieces that we worked with our CSEA Chapter 298 was to also redo the salary schedule and kind of readjust things,” Randall said. “So, that it was easier for employees to follow. It made sense that someone could look at it and easily see where they land on the schedule.”
Greenlinger added that by making the salary schedule more user-friendly, potential applicants will have a better idea of how much they might earn in a position with the district.
“The other significant piece that we’ve been able to work on with CSEA is the increase for our bus driver positions,” Greenlinger said. “This is a really important position for our school district because we operate our transportation department.”
Lastly, the agreement updated language in the contracts between the two parties, outlining the process for when employees request vacation or time off.
“The collective bargaining agreement is an agreement between the CSEA and the school district,” Greenlinger said. “It makes everything clear on what expectations are for both sides.”
According to district officials, both parties approved the agreement and were content with negotiations.
“This is a great example of when you have a wonderful working relationship with our [CSEA] unit,” Randall said. “You can really put together a very effective tentative agreement that is beneficial for both the district and the unit.”
