Teachers in the Panther Valley School District will be earning more next school year after the school board approved a $3,000 a year across-the-board raise for the district’s 111 teachers.

The board on Wednesday voted unanimously to approve a memorandum of understanding with the Panther Valley Education Association, which represents the teachers.

Board President Daniel Matika thanked the board and the union members for coming to the agreement.

“We have excellent teachers at Panther Valley and we want to make sure we are retaining them,” he said after the vote. “We also want to make sure our starting salary is commensurate with other local districts.

“This memorandum of understanding is a step in that direction,” Matika said.

The agreement extends the teachers’ work day 15 minutes daily, he said, and allow teachers to take part in professional teaching communities that will also help Panther Valley students.

Superintendent David McAndrew called the agreement a win-win for the teachers and the district.

“We know how hard they’re working and we want to make sure that we’re retaining them,” he said. “We also want to make sure we’re getting new applicants in the door, because we have some positions that are being filled.”

McAndrew said the agreement strikes a balance between rewarding teachers for their hard work and making sure they are fair to taxpayers.

“We need time back,” he said. “And ultimately, it’s going to help our students. We have the teachers here for 15 more minutes a day.

“That’s 15 more minutes they can be preparing lessons, working on special education issues and talking to colleagues and finding out best practices,” McAndrew said.

Business manager Jesse Walck said after the meeting the base pay for an entry level teacher is around $39,000 a year in the district currently, and that will come up to $43,436 next year with the scheduled increase in the contract and the extra $3,000 a year.

“We looked at doing it on a percentage base, but if the whole thing is lower than all the surrounding districts, and that’s our problem, the only way to fix that is across the board we move it.”

The move will cost the district about $470,000, which includes contributions to the retirement system, in 2023-2024 school year, Walck said.

The district is anticipating additional funding from this year’s state budget, which calls for increases in funding for basic and special education, to offset the teachers’ raises, he said.