FLORENCE — The Boone County school board next monthis expected to approve two-year raises for teachers and administrators, effective this fall.

TEACHER PAY FOR 2001-02

Campbell County Schools     • First-year teacher with bachelor's degree: $26,577.     • 10-year teacher with master's: $35,091.     • 20-year teacher with master's: $40,557. Covington Independent Schools     • First-year teacher with bachelor's degree: $26,112.     • 10-year teacher with master's: $35,252.     • 20-year teacher with master's: $41,519. Kenton County Schools:     • First-year teacher with bachelor's degree: $27,500.     • 10-year teacher with master's: $35,924.     • 20-year teacher with master's: $43,712 or $47,740 (based on rank of certificate). Cincinnati Public Schools:     • First-year year teacher with bachelor's degree: $31,706 (if BA includes less than 150 semester hours) or $32,275.18 (if BA includes 150 or more semester hours)     • 10-year teacher with master's: $51,025.65.     • 20-year teacher with master's: $60,562.28. Boone County Schools in 2002-03:     • First-year teacher with bachelor's degree: $27,835.     • 10-year teacher with masters: $38,634.     • 20-year teacher with masters: $46,348.

        The agreement, covering all certified employees — about 900 teachers and administrators — calls for a 2.7 percent raise in 2002-03 and a 3 percent increase in 2003-04.

        Teachers in Boone County — Kentucky's third-largest public school district with 13,545 students — are among the better-paid teachers in Greater Cincinnati.

        Gov. Paul Patton has proposed 2.7 percent teacher raises in the two-year state budget, which has yet to be passed by state lawmakers. But it's possible that lawmakers will not fund the raises, and some school districts are not including the pay increases in their tentative budgets.

        Boone County Superintendent Bryan Blavatt said the school board is likely to approve the agreement at its June 13 meeting at Ryle High School.

        Members of the Boone County Education Association recently passed the salary schedule, 466-10, said President Karen Hahn, who called the contract “fair and equitable.”

        “Teachers were happy to know what their salary increase was going to be for the next two years,” she said. “That way it makes it easier for teachers to budget. What's good for teachers is going to be good ultimately for kids.”

        Mr. Blavatt said district officials felt it was important to negotiate the raises because it benefits students and the community by maintaining stability.

        “The truth is, all of us recognize and would like to pay teachers more. ... The only thing that will ever be right is when our teachers and educators get paid the way our performers, baseball and football players get paid. They're just as important,” Mr. Blavatt said.
       
       

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