Union Staff to Receive 5.2 Percent Stipends: Rising Enrollment Led to Windfall

By David Schulte, Tulsa World, Okla.

Jul. 4–Teachers and staff at Union Public Schools will return to class in August with an even bigger smile than normal when they greet their students.

The school board recently approved a onetime, 5.2 percent stipend to teachers and staff members’ base salaries ? the largest ever given by the district.

Ed Payton, board president, said teachers and staff who began working with the district before Jan. 1 are eligible to receive the stipend, which will be given in August.

“The 5.2 percent stipend is across the board ? from bus drivers and maintenance personnel to teachers and administrators,” Payton said.

The district has used stipends to reward its employees’ efforts to educate children and to keep personnel.

“We try to maintain the highest quality of employees, and you do that through salaries and benefits,” Payton said.

Stipends also allow the district to maximize its financial resources while keeping within its budget, he added.

Debra Jacoby, chief financial officer at Union, said the district has approximately 1,700 employees, including about 900 full-time teachers.

The average salary for a teacher

in the district is $38,000, meaning a 5.2 percent stipend equals about $1,976.

The district typically gives a stipend to its employees, but the amount varies annually.

One year, a shortfall in the state of Oklahoma’s budget caused the district to give a low stipend of $270 to each employee, Jacoby said.

Glenda Puett, president of the Union Classroom Teachers Association, said educators in the district have received a stipend for at least 10 consecutive years, but because it depends upon available funds, they realize it is not guaranteed to them.

“We appreciate the board ? they have been very generous with their stipends,” Puett said.

Funds for a large stipend became available after the state Legislature notified the district that it would receive an additional $4.5 million in revenue because its student enrollment has increased since last fall, Jacoby said.

The district has also added about 100 new jobs, including teaching positions, during this time.

The increase in enrollment and staff was largely due to the opening of Rosa Parks Elementary School, 13702 E. 46th Place, and the start of an all-day kindergarten program at elementary schools last August.

When Rosa Parks opened, it brought 276 students to the district.

“That is what’s generating a lot of this new money,” Jacoby said.

The stipend for Union employees was also possible because of the administration’s superb job in managing funds, Payton said.

For the past 14 years, the district has received a certificate of excellence award in financial reporting from the Government Financial Officers Association and the National Association of School Business Officials.

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