Effective with the 2023-2024 school year

ALAMOSA — Members of the Alamosa School District Board of Education approved a 7% raise for all employees at their June 1 meeting, effective with the 2023-24 school year. According to ASD Assistant Superintendent Luis Murillo, the raise makes ASD the highest paying district with the best salary schedule in the San Luis Valley.

The raise was the result of negotiations with the Colorado Education Association, the largest labor union in the state. Over the course of seven meetings, ASD leadership along with two members of the BOE met with union representations to negotiate salaries and the transition to a four-day school week as the primary areas of focus.

The 7% raise for the 2023-24 school year added to the 8% raise implemented with the 2022-23 school year equals an across-the-board, baseline increase in salary of 15% in the past two years.

For perspective, a teacher with no prior experience hiring on with the district for the 2021-22 school year had a starting salary of about $36,550. A teacher with no prior experience hiring on with ASD two years later will start at more than $43,000, an increase of $6,450. Seasoned teachers with more experience will take home an even larger paycheck as district pay increases relative to years with the district.

In negotiating the amount of the raise, specific factors were considered, such as the size of the town, the size of the school district, a comparison of the median household income in Alamosa versus other communities and a comparison of teachers’ starting pay. With those factors in mind, Murillo says the boosted salary and accompanying salary schedule also makes ASD competitive with districts outside of the Valley, such as Greeley-6 and Cañon City.

In some cases, it even gives ASD an upper hand.

“Although prices have been rising, a family can afford to live here,” says Murillo, “as compared to a district like maybe Roaring Fork School District. Starting pay might be $50,000 but the average home costs $600,000, The district’s focus has been on attracting and retaining high quality staff members. This is just one action we’ve taken.”

“Alamosa wants to be the destination district for teachers and staff,” says Diana Jones, ASD Superintendent. “The raise improves working conditions for staff along with the steps we’ve taken to have safe and positive learning conditions.

Murillo says district efforts at recruiting and retaining are working.

“When checking in with each of our principals, this upcoming school year might be the first year in quite a while where we start the school year fully staffed. People want to come, and people want to stay working for us,” he says.

Ortega Middle School had “12 or 14 openings” and hired for all those positions. The K-2 school had no turnover at all.

“People have heard about our four-day school week and our salaries, but they’ve also heard about our efforts regarding school safety, including a request to have six security guards at the district being recently approved by the board. There were other teachers’ unions who were negotiating for that but that wasn’t a topic for us because of things we have already implemented throughout the year,” Murillo says.

Jones says the funding for the raise will come out of the general fund, using an increase in per pupil funding received from the state for next year.

“It will be a tight year,” she says. “But last year, we added extra funds for capital improvement so that we could have money that was available to meet some of our needs. This year, we did not add any new funds for capital improvement area this year but there is funding still available for projects.”

Jones emphasized that taking steps to improve recruiting and retention are part of the district’s Strategic Plan that she and Murillo developed when first hired as district leadership.

Staff retention and support is a priority of Focus Area Two in that Strategic Plan.

Another major accomplishment that is part of the Strategic Plan relates to the district being awarded a BEST grant that allowed for a new HVAC system to be put in the elementary school where temperatures on the second floor were reaching into the 80s.

“All of these are part of the plan that supports our major goal — academic growth and achievement for our students,” Murillo says.