The South Bend school board on Monday approved a new contract for teachers that will see raises of about 5% and 2% over the next two years.
For the 2024-25 school year, that means teachers in South Bend will make a minimum of $46,000, up from the $43,000 where they are currently. The contract also includes stipends of $500 per year.
South Bend teachers are the latest union in the area to agree to a new contract as salaries for educators continue to rise due to high demand.
For 2024, Penn-Harris-Madison teachers will make just north of $48,000 while Mishawaka teachers recently received a raise up to $46,000 a year.
School board president John Annella said the raises were the highest that were realistically feasible.
“I agree with my colleagues in the sense of we’d all want this to be higher. I think as a country we realize teachers aren’t paid enough. That’s a cultural, national, societal issue we’re not going to fix in this contract.”
The board approved the raises, with member Jeannette McCullough abstaining saying the raises weren’t enough.
The process to reach a contract was much more straightforward than in recent years. Talks over the previous contract between the teachers and the administration broke down in 2021 based on the size of raises and seniority and the amount of referendum money going to teachers.
The sides came together without incident this bargaining cycle.