Teachers and most other employees in the Little Rock School District will each receive a $350 bonus next month as the result of an agreement reached by the district and the Little Rock Education Association, which is a union of teachers and the support staff.
The district's new, state-appointed superintendent, Baker Kurrus, and association President Cathy Koehler jointly announced the bonus at a news conference after association members voted late Monday afternoon to ratify it.
The one-time payments will go to teachers, principals, assistant principals, secretaries, aides, custodians, bus drivers and food service workers in a separate check to be automatically deposited in employee accounts June 19.
Those not receiving the bonus are central-office, top-level administrators.
"It's our way of saying thank you for hard work, and all the dedication we receive from people and we are pleased to do it," said Kurrus, who also expressed gratitude to administrators for their work and their graciousness in forgoing a bonus in furtherance of the district's long-term objectives.
Koehler said the vote by about 150 of the association's members was unanimous. She said the employees are grateful for the acknowledgement.
"It's been an odd year, and this is a great way to end the year -- on a positive note -- and make people feel valued and respected," she said.
The bonus, which will cost the district about $1.6 million, comes in a year in which the district -- under state control since January -- did not pay an across-the-board raise to employees. Eligible employees, however, did receive the traditional step increase for an additional year of work experience. Many veteran teachers and other employees who have reached the top of their salary schedules are ineligible for the step raises.
Kurrus said that the district's three-year contract with teachers called for opening negotiations on salaries last September, but those bargaining sessions never occurred.
"We wanted to get it out of the way as quickly as we could," he said, "which will allow us to focus on the future."
He said the bonus isn't as much as one would hope to give but it is affordable for the district, which has reserves of more than $30 million but is also expecting the loss of more than $37 million a year in state desegregation aid after the 2017-18 school year.
"It sets the stage for the kind of cooperative working agreement that we really need. Our kids need this. It was my judgment and Commissioner Johnny Key's judgment that this was prudent, and that's why we did it," Kurrus said.
Key, as state education commissioner, serves as the school board for the 24,000-student district that was taken over by the state in January because six of the district's 48 schools are categorized as academically distressed. Fewer than 50 percent of the students in the six schools scored at proficient levels on state math and literacy exams over a three year period.
Koehler said that in her meetings with Key, the commissioner was complimentary of the patience that the Little Rock district employees have shown in regard to the salary matters.
Koehler also said a bonus payment is rare in the district. The last bonus paid was about five yeas ago and was the result of federal stimulus payments to the states.
The latest agreement on bonuses "is a great indication of our ability to work together," she said.
Representatives of the association and the district will next begin negotiating a new teacher contract to succeed the existing three-year contract that expires in October. Those negotiations will cover all aspects of employee working conditions, not just salaries.
Metro on 05/19/2015