Salaries increase for hard-to-find teaching positions

Hard-to-fill teaching positions at Luverne Public Schools may receive a salary boost under a proposed hiring strategy.
Luverne Superintendent Craig Oftedahl explained that it’s difficult to fill some positions in the district due to lack of candidates.
School board members Katie Baustian, Eric Hartman, Colleen Deutsch, Tim Jarchow and Jody Bosch met with Oftedahl in a Thursday evening, Aug. 10, workshop session.
In the past, Luverne administrators credited recent hires for no more than seven years of experience, despite having more experience in their previous position.
According to the district’s salary schedule, a teacher with 14 years of experience and a master’s degree would receive a salary of $50,458 based on past practice of crediting only seven years.
However, at the administrator’s discretion, he could credit 10 years of experience, raising the salary by more than $5,400.
“We are going to face hard-to-replace positions and we need to be competitive,” Oftedahl said.