DesotoExplorer.com

The teacher contract for the 2000-2001 school year will be officially presented to the DeSoto school district's Board of Education August 7.

Bill Gilhaus, director of human resources for the district, said a verbal agreement between the DeSoto Teachers Association and representatives of the Board of Education was reached in early July.

If approved, the contract would raise teacher's salaries by 5.1 percent, Gilhaus said. It also would include an increase in total package earnings of four-tenths of a percentage point.

Teachers are currently reviewing the revised contract, said Andy Shelly, one of two chief negotiators for the association. He said the eight members of the association feel positive about the agreement.

"I think it's a fair one this year," he said.

The association's president and secretary will sign the agreement if it is endorsed by a majority of the district's teachers. Gilhaus said it would then be presented to the board.

If board members accept the contract, the board's president and clerk will sign it. Gilhaus said this would occur at the August 7 meeting.

Salary contracts were discussed in May, but due to disagreements between the board and association, they were not signed by the June 1 deadline. Gilhaus said this was partly due to poor funding from the state.

The district was allotted $3,820 per student, Gilhaus said. The district must pay all salaries, utilities and facility payments with this money.

Although a delayed contract will not be a detriment to the district, Gilhaus said it was in both parties' best interest to come to an agreement.

"It's always nice to have it done earlier," he said. "The negotiations are a lengthy process."

A shortage of teachers has also presented a problem. With the construction of many new schools, Gilhaus said he has hired 220 of the district's 270 teachers in the last four years.

"Fewer and fewer people are going in to education," he said. "Schools are having to find ways to recruit people to come to their district.

"Salaries have become very competitive, and we want to raise salaries as high as possible."