Greeley-Evans board unanimously approves tentative teacher contract with pay and benefits changes

The Board of Education of Greeley-Evans School District 6 voted unanimously May 11 to approve tentative agreements reached in negotiations with the teachers’ association that will be incorporated into the district’s 2026–27 master contract.

The agreements, presented by district negotiators and Aaron Snyder, president of the teachers’ association, cover time and learning, professional development, compensation and benefits. The presentation said the package includes continued steps-and-columns movement on the salary schedule and would add 2% to the base of the salary schedule. The slide deck presented a highest-salary figure of $123,500; the starting-salary figure in the presentation was stated as “$54,11” (as recorded in the meeting materials and on the slide). The board approved the accompanying salary schedules and placement adjustments that will affect 36 educators’ placement on the schedule for 2026–27.

The negotiators also recommended changing the district’s insurance carrier from Aetna to UMR (UnitedHealthcare network), while keeping plan and provider networks the same. The presentation noted district costs would rise by about 17% and that employees would absorb roughly 8% of that increase, with at least one plan remaining at no employee cost. Other benefits changes noted in the presentation include maintenance of dental and vision coverage (with a move of some dental coverage to UMR) and the addition of critical-illness coverage.

Negotiation outcomes described at the meeting included: incorporation of a soft-start “morning routines” window that includes breakfast in schools; retention of a 30-minute duty-free lunch and maintenance of the 268 total minutes of individual planning time for certified staff; a limit of no more than three required meetings per week; planned reductions in proctoring and some assessment duties where feasible; alignment of CTE educators onto the certified salary schedule; and updates to the co-curricular schedule to clarify positions.

Board President Natalie Mash moved the final approval; the motion passed by recorded voice vote with all seven directors indicating “I.” The district will publish the formal contract language and schedule communications to affected employees in coming weeks, the presenters said.

“The negotiations team reached consensus around these areas of time and learning, compensation and benefits,” Aaron Snyder said in the briefing. “We approved the tentative agreements and planned communication for staff ratification.”

Next steps: the district will finalize written contract language, distribute placement and salary communications to impacted employees, and implement the benefits-carrier transition as described by administration and negotiators.