VIDEO/PHOTO OPPORTUNITY Media Contact: Lucha Ramey, Dir. of Comm.

Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation

Monday, November 11, 2019
Office: (574) 258-9558
Cell: (574) 274-1496
Email Address: lramey@phm.k12.in.us

P-H-M Board of School Trustees Approves Ratified Teachers Agreement

Raising Starting Salary to $41,000

(MISHAWAKA, IN)— At the Board Meeting held Monday, November 11, the Penn-Harris-Madison Board of
School Trustees approved the agreement between the P-H-M Teachers Association and the School Corporation
increasing the minimum base starting salary for current P-H-M teachers and new hires for the 2019-2020 school
year to $41,000, which P-H-M believes to be the highest in our area!

The new salary range for P-H-M teachers will be $41,000 to $70,148 marking the first time that the top of our
salary range exceeds $70,000.

“We are grateful to the Governor and the Indiana Legislature for the one-time funding increase to the Teacher
Retirement Fund (TRF); this freed up extra money for school districts to pass along to teachers,” said P-H-M
Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker. “Coupled with P-H-M’s conservative budgeting, we are proud to be in the
position to compensate our teachers at a competitive rate.”

“At P-H-M, we are committed to attracting, retaining and rewarding highly qualified teachers,” Dr. Thacker went
on to state. “They are a crucial component to our Triangle of Success by which our students benefit. We are
proud to offer academic excellence at all levels, for all students. We recognize and value our teachers’
contributions to that excellence.”

The PHMTA membership overwhelmingly ratified the agreement on Wednesday, Oct. 31. The collaboration
between P-H-M administration and the Teachers’ Association shows the value and vision that both sides share in
attracting and retaining the area’s most highly qualified teachers.

P-H-M’s teacher agreement covers a one-year time period from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020. All teachers
who have one or more years of experience will receive varying combinations of base salary increase and a one-
time stipend as shown in chart below:

1
 Pay Increase Stipend
Minimum Starting Salary $41,000
1 yr exp $900 $500
2 yrs exp $1,200 $500
3-18 yrs exp $2,200 $500
19+ yrs exp $1,120 $1,580

Teachers with more than one year of experience will receive salary increases ranging from $900 to $2,200, with
an average salary increase of $1,646, or 3.38%. Additionally, teachers with one or more years of experience will
receive a one-time stipend ranging from $500 to $1,580. Teachers with three or more years of experience, who
comprise approximately 85% of P-H-M’s teaching staff, will receive a total of $2,700 between an increase in
salary and the one-time stipend.

This agreement also enhances compensation received by P-H-M teachers when they:

• Sub for other teachers,

• Teach Dual Credit/Advanced Credit Placement courses incentivizing them to obtain a master’s degree in
their content area or reward them for obtaining their master’s to comply with the Higher Learning
Commission’s 2022 requirements, or
• Who agree to sell back certain unused sick days to reward long service employees with a commendable
attendance record.

Adding to these favorable pay enhancements for teachers, there will be no plan changes to either of Penn-
Harris-Madison’s insurance plans. Employee contributions will increase by a modest 4% starting January 1, 2020.

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About Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation

Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation serves nearly 11,000 (K-12) students in 11 elementary schools, three
middle schools and Penn High School. The School Corporation has consistently received an “A” rating from the
Indiana Department of Education since 2011. With the release of the Spring 2019 ILEARN & ISTEP+ results,
P-H-M ranks 12th in the state among public school districts (out of 292 Indiana public school corporations). For
grade 10 ISTEP+, Penn High School is 12th among public schools for combined ELA & Math scores and Penn
outperformed the state by 27.4%. P-H-M has four elementary schools that rank among the state’s Top 15
schools in combined ELA & Math Proficiency: Northpoint is #1, Prairie Vista is #4, Mary Frank is #8, and Horizon
is #11. Mary Frank’s 3rd grade English/Language Arts ILEARN scores are also the highest in the entire state!
Among the state’s public middle schools grades 6-8 (219 schools), Discovery Middle School is ranked #5 in
Indiana. And Penn High School has a 97% graduation rate, far exceeding the state’s graduation rate. P-H-M’s
“Triangle of Success” connects students, teachers and parents for excellence in education. To learn more,
please visit www.phmschools.org/excellence.