Rochester School Board approves 25-cent raise for staff

'The one thing that I think is important when we look at raises across the board is the value of our human capital. Sometimes we get lost in numbers and I realize that we have a lot of impactful needs throughout the district and expenses that are certainly out of our control.'

Employees of Rochester Community School Corp. will be seeing a little more in their paychecks next year after school board members approved administrative and classified contracts and increase in pay during a regular board meeting last week. 

A 25-cent raise will be given to administrators, some of their directors, instructional assistants, nurses and food service workers. Rochester Schools Superintendent Jana Vance said the overall impact is an increase of roughly $33,356, supported from the education fund. Vance and the board agreed they felt comfortable with the 25-cent raise after going over the 2025 budget with Rochester School Corp. Business Manager Shoda Beehler. 

“The one thing that I think is important when we look at raises across the board is the value of our human capital. Sometimes we get lost in numbers, and I realize that we have a lot of impactful needs throughout the district and expenses that are certainly out of our control. The expenses that we do have in our control, however, if we can continue to manage and keep them lower so we can continue to focus on that human capital and making sure we put those dollars where they need to be is certainly important,“ Beehler said. 

All employees receiving the raise will see an increase of pay by Jan. 24.