Today in History: N.D. Teacher Pay Checks Will Be Healthy but Not Stunning

On this date in 1974, The Forum reported on a New York man being named the new president of the University of Minnesota.

In local news, teachers around North Dakota, as a result of negotiations with their school boards, were receiving some healthy, but not stunning, pay raises that fall. Here’s the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:

By John Dvorak

Teachers around North Dakota, as a result of negotiations with their school boards this spring, will be receiving some healthy, but not stunning, pay raises next fall.

Although fringe benefits and terms and conditions of employment are hotly discussed items in some school districts, salaries are still the big topic of negotiation. Agreements so far indicate that wage hikes of 5 to 7 percent aren’t uncommon, and the base salary for teachers in many school districts is pushing close to or exceeding $7,000.

The largest city where a salary settlement was recently reached, a spokesman for the North Dakota Education Association (NDEA) reported, is Dickinson, whose public school teachers will get an overall raise of more than 7 percent.

Base salary (for teachers with a bachelor’s degree and no experience) will be $7,300, up $500 over the year. Other salaries are then figured from that amount.

The agreement didn’t come easily. Representatives of the school board and teacher association declared an impasse during their talks and a local mediation panel, as suggested by state statutes, worked out the final contract package. Teachers originally had requested a $7,500 base salary.

Teachers in Wahpeton got a larger pay boost. Supt. Ronald Sherven reported that the wage agreement there will increase base salary from $6,600 to $7,250, nearly a 10 percent jump. The Wahpeton school board also agreed to increase its monthly health insurance benefits for teachers.

Valley City teachers will get an overall pay raise of about 5.3 percent, Supt. Bruce Anderson said. The base salary will increase from $6,500 to $6,700, and Anderson said the pay raise would have been greater were it not for the financial limitations placed on the Valley City district by the aid to education law passed last year by the legislature.

In 1973, the Bismarck and Mandan school districts signed two-year contracts with teachers, so no salary negotiations were expected this spring. But teachers, because of the huge jump in the cost of living, asked for a new pay increase and the boards agreed. Base in Bismarck will go from $7,000 to $7,300 next fall; in Mandan from $6,850 to $7,150.

Teachers in most of North Dakota’s other large school districts are still negotiating.

In Grand Forks, talk last week turned to the possibility of impasse, as the two sides seemed far apart on money matters.

At issue is a variety of salary and fringe benefit items. The school board, at last report, offered a package worth about $330,000, but the teachers are asking for about $200,000 more.

In Jamestown and Williston, negotiation sessions are held in private, and little information is released about them.

Reportedly, teachers in Williston are nearing impasse. Salaries are the main concern; the current base is $6,850.

Jamestown negotiations “are trying to finish up a few minor things,” Supt. Frank Fischer reported. Teachers there are completing the first year of a two-year contract, with the base salary already scheduled to increase from $6,800 to $6,900. Fischer said, however, that teachers will get an added raise because of the cost of living jump.

Teachers in Minot also signed a two-year contract in 1973, but a row began last month over three fringe changes made in terms and conditions of next fall’s contracts. Although teachers weren’t involved in the dispute, the Minot Association of Classroom Teachers urged its members not to sign the documents. Base salary next fall is slated to be $7,160.

A number of proposed policy changes are being discussed in Devils Lake, but since teachers will be entering the second year of a two-year contract next fall, salaries aren’t being negotiated. Base pay will increase from $6,600 to $6,750.

School boards in Fargo and West Fargo are currently negotiating with their teachers, but agreement doesn’t appear near in either town. West Fargo teachers asked for a raise of nearly 17 percent, but were offered no raises at all. Fargo teachers asked for a 16.89 percent hike, and were offered 7.09 percent.

A salary agreement was reached in Casselton after some difficult and unusual negotiations. After declaring an impasse, the two sides each picked a representative for the three-person local mediation panel outlined in state law. But Supt. Jerry Tjaden, who was picked by the school board, and Fargo South High instructor John Larson, selected by the teachers, couldn’t agree on a third person. So the two men worked out an agreement themselves and negotiators accepted it.

Teachers will get a raise of about 7.7 percent, Tjaden reported. The base salary will be $7,000.

Salary agreements have already been reached in a number of smaller school districts around North Dakota. The list, according to the NDEA spokesperson, includes:

• Carrington – Hikes in teacher salaries will average 10.2 percent. The raise includes an increase in base salary from $6,400 to $6,550.
• New England – Base pay will go from $6,400 to $6,900, and an additional $50 will be provided for each teacher’s health insurance policy.
• Crosby – Base salary will go up $400, from $6,400 to $6,800, and $200 will go for health insurance for each teacher, an increase of $140 over this year.
• New Town – Base will increase from $6,600 to $7,000.
• Oakes – Teachers’ base salary will be $6,950, a $500 increase over this year.
• Lidgerwood – Base salary will increase $600, from $6,200 to $6,800.
• Grenora – Teachers will receive $50 more for their health insurance policies and will get a base salary of $6,900, up from $6,400 last year.

Teacher salary raises in other school districts, as outlined by the NDEA:

• Trenton – 8 percent
• Epping – 10 percent
• Alamo – 8.8 percent

Negotiators throughout the state like to complete salary discussions by April 15, when school boards, using a deadline suggested in state law, normally send out teacher contracts.

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.