Burrell secretaries get raises under new 5-year contract

Educational secretaries in the Burrell School District will see a 3% pay increase annually over the next five years.

School directors approved an agreement with the district’s 11 educational secretaries for the 3% salary raises for a period beginning July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2030, said Superintendent Shannon Wagner.

Business Manager Jennifer Callahan said the educational secretaries are not unionized and include full-time and part-time employees.

The starting salary for a full-time secretary is $36,000; and $30,000 for a 10-month secretary, Callahan said. The highest-paid hourly secretary is paid $19 an hour, Callahan said.

The highest full-time employee on the scale, with 25 years working for the district, makes $52,700 annually, Callahan said.

So, a secretary making $36,000 in 2025-26 would make $37,080 in 2026-27; $38,160 in 2027-28; $39,240 in 2028-29 and $40,320 in 2029-30.

Under the agreement, full-time secretaries under the district’s main healthcare plan would contribute 15% of costs the first year of the agreement, Callahan said. That increases gradually over the five years and that employee would pay 20% of costs in 2029-30.

The agreement also includes three paid holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas — for part-time employees.

“Other than that, everything is pretty much the same,” Callahan said.