Kalispell Public Schools trustees approved salary increases Tuesday after completing negotiations with three bargaining units.

Although administrators do not belong to a bargaining unit, trustees included them and all non-union employees in salary agreements approved Tuesday.

The board unanimously approved a two-year contract with Kalispell Education Association, the teachers union, from July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2014.

The contract includes a 1.5 percent increase to base salaries, plus automatic increases based on experience and education. Association members approved the contract by a vote of 284 to 9, association president Mike Thiel said. He said negotiations and the contract were pretty standard.

Last year, teachers accepted freezes on their base salary while still receiving automatic increases for accruing experience.

The board also unanimously approved contracts with a 1.5 percent increase for the Maintenance Association through June 30, 2013. This contract currently affects five employees.

Trustees also unanimously approved a 1.7 percent increase through June 30, 2015, for custodial bargaining units Local No. 2795, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and AFL-CIO. This increase may affect between 35 and 40 employees.

Administrators and other nonunion employees such as administrative assistants, information technology specialists and bus drivers were included in salary agreements. Both groups were given one-year, 1.5 percent raises by the board.

The last time administrators were given a raise was in 2010, and all other nonunion employees in 2011. Salaries for both groups, who are not on a salary schedule like teachers, were considered lagging behind competitive wages when compared to the district’s bargaining units, other Class AA school districts and city of Kalispell employees with similar job titles/duties.

Human Resources Director Karen Glasser said this is a growing concern for retaining and recruiting highly qualified employees.

Glasser said even with fewer employees doing the same amount of work as other Class AA districts, most pay for administrative positions ranked at the bottom when compared to seven AA districts.

Superintendent Darlene Schottle provided an example in an email: “Our HR (human resources) office has the director and one non-union assistant, doing the same job that up to four personnel are doing in other AA districts and our staff is in general the lowest paid for both of these positions.”

She added, “We value the work of our employees and want to provide a fair and equitable salary for them. Since we had fallen significantly behind average, this review by staff and the board provided the first opportunity in eight years to provide a realistic wage realignment of these two groups.”

Most trustees, such as board chairman Tom Clark, agreed during a special board meeting last week.

“Our concern is we’re not getting the best applicants by not offering competitive wages as we get out of the recession,” Clark said.

At the special board meeting, Information Technology Director Rich Lawrence spoke about the concern of retention: “We’re losing guys with five to 10 years experience to the private sector.”

While the district couldn’t afford to increase pay by the cost of living, about 2.7 percent, trustees approved a 1.5 percent increase totaling $9,584 for non-union employees, which affects about 25 employees.

Their total contract package will be adjusted by $38,824, to bring them closer to market pay. The district will allocate 1 percent of that from the general fund and from funds available through salary savings from retirements, stipend and overtime reductions.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at [email protected].