Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — Granite School District teachers will receive a 5% cost of living raise for the 2020-21 school year in a negotiated agreement that will increase starting pay for teachers to $50,380 annually.
The new salary schedule tops out at $88,258 for veteran educators who have doctorate degrees. Granite educators will also receive a one-time 3% bonus to be paid in November under the agreement approved Tuesday by the Granite Board of Education.
School Board President Karyn Winder and Star Orullian, executive director of the Granite Education Association, expressed gratitude to the Utah Legislature in a joint statement:
“We are grateful to the Legislature for the tremendous support and funding for public education that facilitated this negotiated package.”
State lawmakers recently appropriated a 6% increase to the value of weighted pupil unit for the coming fiscal year as part of an overall $5.9 billion public education budget for fiscal year 2021.
The WPU is the basic building block of public education funding.
School districts and charter boards have broad flexibility over how to use education funding appropriated through the weighted pupil unit. Much of it goes to employee salaries.
Granite School District has hired more than 100 teachers for the 2020-21 school year and believes the new contract will make it even more competitive among Utah school districts, said spokesman Ben Horsley.
Granite District teachers will experience a slight increase in health insurance premiums, which are typically lower than other area school districts because Granite’s health insurance is self-funded, district officials said.
As an additional benefit, the district operates Granite Wellness Center, which provides comprehensive medical and pharmaceutical services to all contract employees and their dependents at no cost.
