Kiski Area support staff get raises under new 5-year contract

A new contract awards pay raises to Kiski Area School District educational support staff in each of the next five years.

The school board unanimously ratified the five-year agreement with the Kiski Area Educational Support Professionals that runs from July 1 through June 30, 2029. It provides an 8% raise in the first year and then 3% increases in each of the following four years, said Richard Liberto, the district’s business manager.

The bargaining unit is a made up of 14 employees holding clerical or secretarial positions.

The hourly wage scale for those employees through the 2023-24 school year, based on years of service, is as follows: zero to four years, $19.53; five to 10 years, $ 20.23; 11 to 14 years, $21.23; 15 to 18 years, $23.70; and 19 or more years, $26.25.

Under the new contract, those wages will change in the contract’s first year to $21.09 at the bottom of the scale; $21.85 for five- to 10-year employees; $22.93 for 11- to 14-year employees; $25.60 for 15- to 18-year employees and $28.35 at the top.

In addition, Liberto said the agreement creates two tiers of employees, one for those who have an associate degree and one for those without a degree.

Wages for those holding an associate degree will receive a higher hourly rate. In the first year, for example, the new wage rate at the bottom of the scale will be $22.93 and the rate at the top of the scale will be $29.01.

Liberto said health care insurance costs for the employees was set at a flat premium of $40 per person per month for individual coverage and $65 monthly for family coverage. The new contract sets the employee cost at 8% of the overall health care premium for both individual and family coverage.

He also noted health care insurance for the 2024-25 school year through the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit consortium, through which districts purchase that insurance, just rose by 12%.