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Board reviews pay-and-benefit package for independent employees and proposed superintendent contract
Summary
HR Director Ulrich recommended a package for independent employees (2% salary increases for two years, 5% district health-insurance contribution increases, and expanded paid-holiday eligibility for some staff) costing about $180,000; the board discussed a superintendent contract with a proposed 2% first-year increase and 1.5% in subsequent years.
HR Director Ulrich presented results of a brief survey of independent employees (about 46 employees, 22 responses) and recommended compensation adjustments to address salary and insurance concerns. Ulrich recommended a 2% increase in salary/hourly rates for 2026–27 and 2027–28, a 5% increase in district health-insurance contributions in those same years, and reducing the days-required threshold to receive five paid holidays for a subset of independent staff (affecting 14 of 31 independent employees). Ulrich said the combined cost of those changes is approximately 5.51% of the affected pool or about $180,000.
Ulrich also recommended consolidating some independent-handbook language but keeping two separate handbooks (community education independent staff and other independents) because of programmatic differences. She described legacy health-insurance stipends created in 2013 and proposed ending those stipends and rolling that compensation into base salary after the recommended increases.
On the superintendent contract, Ulrich and board members reviewed Superintendent Jason Berg's current salary ($206,904.34) and discussed a new three-year contract with a 2% increase in the first year followed by 1.5% increases in later years; one board member calculated projected annual salaries of about $212,107, $215,002.89 and $218,518 across the three years. Board members raised contract-length questions and noted a three-year maximum is typical/legal in practice; no final contract vote occurred at the work session.
Board members expressed general comfort with the proposed compensation frameworks and asked staff to include final language and cost detail for action at a future business meeting.
