The Clark County School District offices are shown in Las Vegas in May 2009.
Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023 | 6:21 p.m.
After a brutal and lengthy fight over several months, Clark County School District teachers have a new contract.
The district said today that an arbitrator had accepted a contract that will give teachers a 10% across-the-board raise this school year and 8% next year. The new entry-level salary will be $53,000. The ceiling will be about $131,000.
“The School Board of Trustees and I are pleased that the approved contract gives our teachers the historic pay increases they deserve while aligning with the $637 million budget the District allocated in our budget process for licensed personnel,” Superintendent Jesus Jara said in a statement. “Teachers can enjoy their holidays knowing that relief is on the way.”
“This contract represents a pivotal moment in the longstanding efforts to get a qualified licensed educator in every classroom by addressing recruitment and retention issues through increasing compensation for educators in Clark County,” the Clark County Education Association teachers union said in a statement.
Here’s what else is new in the contract:
- A new pay scale, for new hires going forward.
- A $78.63 increase in CCSD contributions to the THT teachers’ health insurance plan for all enrolled employees this year, and a $66.19 increase next year.
- A supplemental 1.875% wage increase effective halfway through the current school year through June 30, 2025, proposed to be paid through SB 231 funds, to make up for the state-levied increase to employee contributions to the state retirement system. Because this increase is proposed to be funded by SB 231 monies, it is pending approval of the state Interim Finance Committee, which is set to meet next in February. Also, the $53,000-$131,000 range assumes that lawmakers approve the SB 231 funds to cover the increased pension costs.
- Increases in “extra instructional pay” and coaches’ pay.
- Effective next school year, $5,000 increases in pay for special education teachers and for teachers at high-poverty schools that have a 5% or more vacancy rate. These are also proposed to be paid through SB 231 funds.
What the contract does not have: a “lookback” that would have reset veteran teachers on a pay scale better reflecting the years of experience and advanced education of seasoned educators. This would have led to potentially significant raises for the majority of teachers. Such a lookback was touted by both CCSD and CCEA to address salary “compaction” that made for small pay gaps between newer and more senior teachers.
A district spokesman said the contract — and namely, raise — effective date is to be determined. However, because the contract was approved by an arbitrator, it does not need to be ratified by union membership or signed off on by the School Board.
CCSD and CCEA differ on their estimated total funding impacts: the district says it should be $747.5 million over the biennium, with $111 million of that being from SB 231 funds. The union says the package is worth $755 million including SB 231 funds, although it did not break those out.
Contract negotiations between the district and union had broken down in September when CCSD declared an impasse. The resulting arbitration was one of many theaters of battle between CCSD and its teachers union this year.
The union sued the district and state in October after a judge determined that CCEA was responsible for the first public-sector strike since they were outlawed more than 50 years ago.
That determination put CCEA under a court injunction barring teachers from work stoppages like the rolling strike that the judge declared was underway in September, when eight schools closed for a day each because of a large number of teachers calling out sick. The union denied involvement and appealed the case to the Nevada Supreme Court, where it is pending.
CCEA also filed several “prohibited practice” complaints against CCSD to the state employee relations board over the past several months, and the union — and later, allied, high-ranking state lawmakers — have called for Jara to resign or be fired.
