VIENNA — The Maries R-1 Board of Education approved pay raises across many different categories during its May 28 meeting.

Raising substitute pay was the board’s first compensation consideration that evening. During the 2024-25 school year, substitute teachers received $90 per day for short-term commitments and $100 per day for long-term jobs.

New state laws require schools to begin paying at least the minimum wage for all positions. Schools were previously exempt from those mandates. The voter-approved minimum wage increase to $13.75 that began in January meant that the $90 per seven-hour workday for substitute teachers was no longer above the minimum wage. The district would need to increase the compensation to at least $96.25 per day.

Although the requirement for schools to pay the minimum wage would not begin until January 2026, Superintendent Teresa Messersmith suggested making the switch ahead of the next school year rather than in its middle. Her proposal was to increase the substitute pay to $105 per day, which would equate to $15 per hour. Long-term substitutes would receive $125 per day. The increases were factored into the proposed budget Messersmith had shared with the board.

Board member Matt Novak asked if the district had enough substitute teachers on its roster.

All the administrators said the district was short-staffed when it came to substitute teachers. Special Education Director Joe Edwards said there were multiple days this past school year that classrooms had to combine or administrators had to cover classes because no substitutes were available.

Board President Dave Long asked if the higher pay would help to get more people interested in substitute teaching.

Messersmith said she was doubtful that the pay would help bring in new people after speaking with another district that raised substitute wages without receiving any new applicants. The new state regulations meant the district did not have a choice to raise the compensation.

The board approved the increases for both short-term and long-term substitute teacher wages.

Next up was the salary schedule for certified staff, which includes the district’s teachers.

The new base salary for teachers is $37,000. The General Assembly passed a law mandating a $40,000 minimum salary for teachers. A state grant will likely help the district cover the difference for teachers who have not already reached that base. The new base is an increase from $34,000 in the 2024-25 school year.

Messersmith outlined a few changes to the salary schedule structure. First, the yearly steps will decrease from $500 to $400 to accommodate the required raises.

Second, teachers will only receive education increments when they complete a degree rather than when they complete eight graduate hours. The intention behind the change is to encourage teachers to complete degrees. Messersmith said she hoped the change would help the district develop future administrators.

The new schedule also lowers the minimum time for teacher salaries to unfreeze from the schedule from 11 years to eight years. It also introduces a column to the certified schedule for teachers without a bachelor’s degree because of recent changes to statewide teacher hiring. Struggles to find teachers have led districts to hire teachers who are still a year or two away from obtaining degrees. The salary schedule would still have those teachers meeting the required $40,000 minimum, but they would stay locked into that number until they received their degrees and teaching certification.

Edwards said he and Snodgrass had interviewed a few applicants for elementary school teachers, and each of them was at least two years away from receiving a degree.

The discussion shifted to the non-certified staff salary schedule. Messersmith’s proposal included a minimum raise of 6 percent to the base pay for non-certified positions. Some roles received as much as a 19 percent increase. The positions that made less than $15 per hour received an increase to $15 per hour to account for the upcoming minimum wage increase in January 2026. The paraprofessional and career counselor positions also received an extra dollar added to the base because those positions require a minimum of 60 college hours.

The board approved the non-certified staff salary schedule and reviewed the proposed administrator salary schedule. The proposal added 6 percent to the base pay for administrators to match the increase for non-certified staff. The board also approved that proposal.

Finally, the board reviewed and approved contracts and compensation for extracurricular activities. Messersmith said her proposal decreased extracurricular pay by 0.5 percent, but the increase to the base salaries meant the staff members receiving extracurricular stipends were making more money than the previous year. She acknowledged that the next budget would be tighter than in recent years, so the pay for extra activities seemed like a place the district could cut back.