Board approves employee contracts and working agreements; packages kept under 7 percent

The Stewartville Public School District board voted 6–0 to approve a set of contracts and working agreements for multiple employee groups, including Local 70 (custodial/maintenance), administrative assistants, Tiger Time assistants, district directors/coordinators/managers and other classified groups.

Administration said the negotiating guardrail from the board limited total-package increases to below 7 percent; the presented packages are in the 6.8–6.9 percent range. Language changes included removing a district maximum on 403(b) matching contributions (the district will match employee contributions without a previous hard cap), minimum-work thresholds for eligibility for certain annual increases (for example, SESPs must work a minimum number of days to receive an increase), a graduated PTO scale for certain administrative positions, revised longevity steps, and a two-hour minimum overtime payment for Local 70 employees called in on a weekend.

The teachers’ settlement remained a tentative agreement at the time of the meeting and will be presented for board approval after their membership ratifies the agreement; staff said the top row of the summary table would be updated and returned on either Nov. 10 or Nov. 24 once teachers notify their membership.

Motion and vote: The motion to approve the presented contracts and working agreements was made by Mr. Geiss and seconded by Mr. Ravenhorst; the motion carried 6–0.

Administration said the parties understand the district faces a projected budget shortfall tied to revenue assumptions and that the group agreements were negotiated with awareness of next-year state revenue expectations.