The Lincoln Board of Education approved a significant salary increase for transportation employees Tuesday with the goal of attracting more people to the district.
Through the negotiated agreement for the 2024-25 school year, all transportation employees at Lincoln Public Schools — both bus drivers and transportation paraeducators — will receive around an 11% salary increase, growing the hourly pay for bus drivers from $23.86 to $26.65, and from $15.49 to $17.30 for bus paras.Â
Transportation employees will also receive an increase to their provided death benefit from a guaranteed $5,000 to $20,000. For classified staff at LPS, this number typically ranges from $10,000 to $20,000, according to Blake Simpson, director of employee relations, benefits and personnel at LPS.
The board waived its typical two-read process and approved the agreement at its meeting Tuesday evening.
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This is the second big raise for transportation employees in less than three years. The employee group was given an 18% raise in December 2021 to help with driver shortages from the pandemic.Â
While LPS continues to struggle to maintain a full transportation staff, Simpson, who also acts as the chief negotiator for the district, said he hopes the increased pay will not only help retain the transportation employees currently working for the district, but recruit more, too.Â
LPS currently has a steady vacancy rate of 18% for bus drivers and 45% for transportation paraeducators. There were around 20 to 30 open positions at LPS for these roles for the 2023-2024 school year. But with this salary increase, the district now has one of the most competitive base rates for transportation employees in the area, which Simpson said should help fill the gap.
In the past, LPS offered transportation employees sign-on and retention bonuses, but Simpson said the district never saw much benefit from those, which is why they decided to increase salary this year instead.
The pay raise comes at the perfect time, too, Simpson said, as two LPS interview days to fill 150 vacant classified staff positions are fast approaching. The first of two hiring events takes place Thursday in the Scott Middle School gym from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. A second will occur on July 16 at North Star High School in the Commons and Media Center, also from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
"We feel this is going to be a real big boost to our hiring," he said. "We not only want to show new hires how committed we are to transportation workers, our paraeducators and our drivers, but also send a message to our current staff that they really are valued."
Transportation employees join the ranks of classified staff at LPS to receive pay raises in this year's negotiations. These groups have seen pay increases as part of each new contract agreement for more than 30 years, according to Simpson.
Contracts for the 2024-25 school year for custodians, maintenance employees, office professionals, nutrition services employees, paraeducators, technicians and administrators were approved by the board on May 15, but the agreement for transportation employees was delayed at the time due to ongoing negotiations.Â
Overall, custodians will see pay increase by 5.07%, maintenance employees, 4.73%; nutrition services workers, 5.51%; office professionals, 4.26%; paraeducators, 7.51%; technicians, 4.49%; and administrators, 4.28%.
´¡Ìýnegotiated contract for teachers was approved by the board in February, and included a 4.5% base pay boost, increasing the starting annual salary from $47,056 to $48,556 annually.
Substitute teachers will also see increased pay next school year. The new rate will give substitutes a 7.5% raise, increasing the daily pay rate from $177.47 for a full day to $185.53. The proposal also outlined pay rates for substitute paraeducators, office personnel, transportation employees and other miscellaneous employees.Â
Unlike regular teacher pay, substitute pay is not bargained but is instead decided based on the district's budget.Â
Additionally, the board discussed proposed two-year contracts for the associate superintendent for business affairs, Liz Standish; associate superintendent for human resources, Vann Price; and associate superintendent for teaching and learning, Sarah Salem.Â
If approved, each of the three associate superintendents would see a 4% salary increase and an overall benefits package increase of 4.1% for the 2024-25 school year. Standish's new annual salary would be $246,762, Price's would be $246,762 and Salem's would be $218,400.
The contracts for the other two associate superintendent positions for civic engagement and educational services were negotiated this spring during the hiring process for the open positions after both John Neal and Matt Larson announced their retirements earlier this year. Those salaries were not listed.
A new contract for Takako Olson, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment and ESU 18 administrator, was also included in the proposal. She would receive a salary increase of 4.28% and an overall total package increase of 4.45%. Her new annual salary will be $170,811.
2025-26 student calendar
The school board also took a look at a proposed student calendar for the 2025-26 school year at Tuesday's meeting.Â
The first day of school is set for Aug. 11 and the last day May 21. Professional learning days when only staff reports would occur on Sept. 2. Oct. 14, Dec. 1, Jan. 1, Feb. 17. and April 6. Fall break would take place from Oct. 10-14, winter break would be from Dec. 22-Jan. 2 and spring break would occur from March 9-13.Â
Graduations for all schools would take place May 19-24.Â