BROOKINGS Brookings teachers will receive a 1 percent pay raise next year. The salary increase is part of the 2025-26 master agreement between the school district and the Brookings Education Association. The school board approved the agreement on a 4-0 vote with board member Teri Johnson absent during Monday nights meeting.
Its a 1 percent salary increase across the board for everybody covered under the master agreement, Stacey VanBeek, director of business affairs for the district, said. The total compensation package including salary and benefits ranges from 1.77 percent to 2.36 percent.
The Brookings Education Association has already approved the master agreement.
On April 16, we had a full day negotiation with the BEA, and we have a really good relationship with them, Keli Books, school board member, said. This is just the ratification of our agreement with them for this coming year. That covers our teachers, our TAs and all of our staff members.
During the latest legislative session, state lawmakers approved a 1.25 percent increase in funding for schools in South Dakota. The year before, legislators approved a 4 percent increase in state education spending. In 2023, it was a 7 percent increase; in 2022, it was a 6 percent increase.
The Brookings master agreement gives teachers already employed by the district a 1 percent increase to their 2024-25 salary. Newly-employed teachers in the district who are also new to the teaching profession will receive a starting salary of $51,992. The previous years master agreement had listed starting salaries at $51,675.
According to the National Education Association, the average teacher salary in South Dakota is $56,328 and the average starting salary for new teachers in the state is $45,530. The association reports the national average salary for teachers is $72,030 and the national average starting salary for new teachers is $46,526. The association ranks South Dakota 46th in the nation in terms of teacher pay.
In other business Monday night, the school board approved on a 4-0 vote an auditors report on the districts financial situation. Independent auditor firm ELO CPAs & Advisors examined the districts finances for 2023-24 and issued a report on their findings. School board member Wes Tschetter said the districts finance committee had already reviewed the auditors report and recommended approval by the full school board.
The finance committee met and went over the relevant points (in the audit). We had a good audit report for 2023-24, Tschetter said. Theres nothing of concern (in the report) in terms of matters we need to bring forth before the board. I thank the staff for working on this with the auditor. They commented as well on how open the board and the staff were.
The auditors said that for 2023-24, the school districts total revenues excluding transfers stood at $52,829,771 while expenses totaled $52,636,515.
The report also noted that during 2023-24 the district invested $126,270,135 in capital assets a 68.29 percent increase from the prior year. During the summer of 2024, the district demolished both Hillcrest and Medary elementary schools and constructed replacement buildings at both sites. Those two projects were paid through bond issuance of $32.43 million, capital outlay certificate issuance of $25 million, and a capital outlay transfer of $2.6 million for a total cost of just over $60 million.
The auditors report said, in our opinion, the Brookings School District No. 51 complied, in all material respects, with the types of compliance requirements that could have a direct material effect on each of its major federal programs for the year ended June 30, 2024.
Contact Jay Roe at [email protected].
Leave a Reply