Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Pay raise for School District support staff to cost $2.5 million

Updated Friday, Aug. 9, 2013 | 2:12 p.m.

Click to enlarge photo

Pat Skorkowsky, Clark County School District superintendent, listens to a question during an editorial board meeting at the Las Vegas Sun offices in Henderson June 11, 2013.

The Clark County School Board unanimously approved a raise for support staff employees on Thursday that will cost the district $2.5 million over the next biennium.

The contract “modification” came just three months into Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky’s tenure. Skorkowsky was appointed to his position in late May amid widespread support from the district’s four employee unions.

The collectively bargained agreement between the School District and the Education Support Employees Association will raise the support staff’s salary schedule by 2 percent and cover a mandatory 1 percent increase in employee contributions to the state employee pension fund.

During the two-year contract, support staff will not receive their annual step increases. At the end of the contract, support staff salaries will be reduced by about 0.5 percent, or $1.4 million.

Union president John Carr claimed the agreement the union ratified on July 20 wasn’t the same one before the School Board on Thursday. However, School Board President Carolyn Edwards checked the agreements and found no discrepancies.

"(Support staff) made sacrifices over the past few years so we could balance our budget during the worst of our economic crisis, for which we are appreciative," Edwards said in a statement Friday morning. "Our support staff employees are essential to the day-to-day operation of our district. We appreciate their work and we are glad to agree on a contract that does not include cuts to their salaries."

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