LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — After months of negotiations, the Clark County School District and the union representing its teachers have come to an agreement on new contracts.
The Clark County Education Association announced the "historic" agreement with CCSD in a news release on Wednesday afternoon.
It follows months of back-and-forth in court and in public debate over how the district would spend money allocated by the Nevada legislature for teacher raises. Unable to reach an agreement, CCSD moved to bring the negotiations to arbitration.
“The School Board of Trustees and I are pleased that the approved contract gives our teachers the historic pay increases they deserve while aligning with the $637 million budget the District allocated in our budget process for licensed personnel," CCSD Superintendent Jesus Jara said of the agreement. "Teachers can enjoy their holidays knowing that relief is on the way."
The new contract will include what union leaders described as a "substantial pay increase" distributed as a 10% salary increase in the first year, followed by an 8% raise in the second year.
Special education teachers and teachers in Title 1 schools with a 5% vacancy rate will receive $5,000 of additional pay starting in July 2024, CCEA officials stated. (Those schools will be determined at the end of the 2023-24 school year, with pay increases effective in the 2024-25 school year, according to CCSD.)
Teachers are also expected to see an increase in extra duty pay from $31.50 to $50 an hour.
As part of the agreement, CCSD will pay an additional 19.7% in monthly health care premium contributions over the term of the agreement, according to CCEA, which added that "There will be no increase by employees toward monthly premiums."
And starting in March 2024, teachers can expect to receive back pay effective July 1, 2023, union leaders wrote.
Union leaders added that they believe the arbitration process is outdated, and they plan to advocate in the next legislative session for changes to that process.
According to CCSD, the agreement also addresses what will happen if funds allocated in S.B. 231 aren't re-appropriated in the next budget cycle.
