GFPS approves three labor agreements; administrative salaries
Great Falls Public Schools board approved three collective bargaining agreements and administrative salaries during their July 21 meeting.
The largest group, the Great Falls Education Association, is the teachers union and their collective bargaining agreement expired June 30.
The group membership fluctuates based on openings and hirings, but is typically about 750 employees.
The district and the union have been negotiating since the spring, complicated by legislative changes, coming to the agreement presented to the school board on Monday.
Luke Diekhans, GFPS’ human resources director, said that the new agreement implements the recently passed Student and Teacher Advancement for Results and Success, or STARS, Act.
The district and the union worked to mitigate the effects of the increase of the average teacher pay on district costs.
Salaries for teachers are paid out of several funds, including the district’s general fund, special education and other federal funds.
The current teacher salary budget is $48,831,160.
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The two-year labor agreement includes wage increases over each of the school years.
For the 2025-2026 school year, the agreement includes a four percent increase on base salaries equates to an estimated increased cost of $2,191,722 plus $74,000 for the longevity stipend.
For the 2026-2027 school year, the agreement includes a three percent increase on base pay for an estimated cost of $1,586,293 plus $74,000 for the longevity stipend.
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The legislation funds districts that qualify by meeting legislative goals for increasing teacher base pay, which must be at least 11 times the quality educator and qualified staff payment amount under state law, and for the current fiscal year and beyond, teacher base pay must meet the following percentages of teacher average pay in the prior fiscal year:
- 62 percent in fiscal year 2026
- 64 percent in fiscal year 2027
- 66 percent in fiscal year 2028
- 68 percent in fiscal year 2029
- 70 percent in fiscal year 30 and succeeding fiscal years.
For GFPS, with the four percent increase on base salaries for the upcoming school year, starting salary under STARS is at $46,500 and the top salary, for a teacher with a master’s and 18-plus years experience is $85,890.
They’ve shifted the longevity stipend in an effort to keep the overall average teacher pay lower to meet STARS requirements while still rewarding longtime, experienced teachers, GFPS officials said.
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The cost estimates are based on current employee numbers and don’t include related payroll costs such as insurance, workers compensation and teachers retirement.
The final financial changes will be reflected in the budget that will be presented to the board in August for approval.
Diekhans told the board that they know the district has to be competitive to get the STARS money from the state, but implementation is challenging and it’s important to keep the average teacher salary at a maintainable number.
Brian Patrick, GFPS’ business operations manager, said the district was slated to receive a little over $3 million through STARS funding and about $1 million in the new state law allowing it to take up to 3 percent of inflation, for about $4.5 million.
Kim Skornogoski, school board member, said that the STARS funding will benefit the district but complicates budget discussions.
She said the district wants to pay all teachers better, including new teachers, but also the experienced teachers.
Diekhans said this week, the district will start reprinting contracts with updated information and those will be mailed out to teachers.
The agreement includes language to ensure special education teachers have a “workable case management number.”
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If the total aggregate enrollment, which is defined in the agreement, exceeds the recommended case management numbers delineated in the agreement, the teacher will be paid $100 per student per semester.
“The increase to the case management numbers must last longer than a total of 20 working days per semester. This increase to case management numbers may be due to the redistribution of students as the result of an unfilled position, unfilled long-term substitute, paperwork due to unlicensed teacher, or other instance requiring instruction or Individual Education Plan (IEP) paperwork re-assignment,” according to Diekhans.
Under the new labor agreement, elementary specialists, which include counselors, librarians, music, art, health enrichment and intervention teachers, with scheduled student contact time who cover for classroom teachers without a substitute will be paid $35 per half day.
Mentors, which teachers aren’t required to be, will be trained and compensated to meet with their mentees September through May. Mentees will also be paid for the meetings that occur outside of the duty day, according to the new agreement.
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The agreement clarifies the district incentive for early retirement notification which is due no later than 5 p.m. on the first day of school in January. The agreement must be submitted in writing to HR and only applies to retirements at the end of the current school year. The $250 incentive will be paid out as part of the teacher’s termination pay and is considered taxable income, according to the agreement.
The new agreement also allows for stipend splits between co-sponsors for extra and co-curricular activities at the discretion of the high schools.
The school board also approved a new two-year collective bargaining agreement with the Great Falls Technology Association, Montana Federation of Public Employees.
The agreement for this group, which includes 11 employees, was reopened on April 25 by mutual agreement of the district and the union. It expired on June 30.
For the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school years, a $1.03 and $1 increase, respectively, for all positions was agreed to.
The wage increase for the upcoming school year is estimated to be a base salary of $570,460 for this group, with an increase of $23,566.
The increase for the following school year is an estimated additional $22.880, according to the district.
The school board approved a two year labor agreement with Local Union 400 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO, with retroactive pay to July 1.
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This bargaining group includes 93 employees.
The new agreement includes a four percent wage increase for the 2025-2026 school year,for an increase of $158,692 to an estimated group salary budget of $4,125,980, according to GFPS.
The agreement includes a three percent increase for the 2026-2027 school year, for an increase of $123,780 to a total salary budget of $4,249,759.
The board also approved the compensation budget for administrators, which includes 47 employees.
The base salaries for the employees listed below in this unit are adjusted by four percent for the upcoming school year:
- two executive directors of student achievement (assistant superintendents)
- one director of business operations
- one human resources director
- one director of technology
- two coordinators of curriculum and instruction
- one athletics director
- one music and art coordinator
- one coordinator of Indian education
- three coordinators of student services
- one coordinator of student services for Title 1
- one coordinator of student services-ELF
- two high school principals
- six high school associate principals
- one alternative high school principal
- two middle school principals
- two middle school associated principals
- 15 elementary principals
- one facilities supervisor
- one assistant facilities supervisor
- one food services supervisor
- one coordinator of the College and Career Readiness Center
The superintendent’s contract and compensation is negotiated and approved by the school board separately.
The salary structure for three groups of administrators: district-level administrators, principals and supervisors is below.
The four percent base salary increase is an estimated $207,311 increase to $5,379.310 for this employee group for the 2025-2026 school year.
The district is adding a flat $500 payment to administrators and a one percent retirement contribution to the group for an additional $23,500.
All additional discretionary days that were funded by ESSER, federal COVID relief funds for schools, have been removed since the federal funds are no longer available and this employee group was advised of that in previous years, according to GFPS.
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