PCSC School Board conducts public hearing on proposed tentative agreement with PEA for 2024-25 school year

The Plymouth Community School Board conducted a public hearing on the tentative agreement between the Plymouth Education Association (PEA) and the Plymouth Community School Corporation for the 2024-25 school year.

Superintendent Mitch Mawhorter highlighted several key changes in the proposed agreement worked out with both sides.  He said the starting salary for new teachers has increased from $46,000 to $47,000.  This bumps up all first-year teacher salaries by $1,000.   The Superintendent said the salary scale has been extended to include years 23, 24, and 25 of service.

Teachers with at least one year of service will receive a minimum salary increase of $2,000. Mawhorter said there were a few teachers in the 23, 24 and 25 years that needed to be caught up to that range so they may receive a slightly higher amount than $2,000.  The over teacher salaries now range from $47,000 to $77,848. 

Laura Kruyer PEA president said they had a unanimous voted a the ratification meeting by the members present after discussing the changes. The PEA did have an in-depth conversation about health insurance.  She said, “While we recognize this is a contract that is really the best we can offer, under the idea of being financially responsible with the money we have in our corporation. We also talked about the ever-increasing costs of health care. That is a concern.”

Kruyer said more teachers are talking about the struggles they are having.  She said it’s not unique to school corporations but across the nation. She said in Indiana we have a unique situation because of the roll the legislation plays in the process.  Kruyer said the family plans are costly for teachers and there are some who are seeking assistance through Medicaid or the SHIP program.  She said one of the family plans offered had an increase of nearly $3,000. 

Kruyer said, “I think it’s time to ring the bell and start getting other people to understand what is going on so that the public has a better understanding of health insurance and the challenges that are being faced.”  She did urge the school board to vote in favor of the tentative contract presented.

The public hearing was the only agenda item and the meeting lasted about 10 minutes.  The Plymouth School Board will consider the new contract with teachers at their next meeting, Monday, November 4^th at 6 p.m.