Mid-Del board approves pay raises for teachers, support staff
Representatives from the Mid-Del Education Association signed a contract for the 2026-27 school year during a recent school board meeting. Photo provided
By Jeff Harrison
Midwest City Beacon
Mid-Del teachers and support employees will receive pay increases and new incentives under agreements approved by the Mid-Del Board of Education for the 2026-27 school year.
The board ratified negotiated contracts with the Mid-Del Education Association and the Mid-Del Support Employees Association for 2026-27, concluding a bargaining process that wrapped up earlier than usual this spring.
Teachers will receive a $2,000 increase added to every step on the district’s salary schedule, along with preserved annual step increases. Supplemental stipends for coaches, club sponsors, leadership roles and other extracurricular assignments will also rise under the agreement.
Pam Huston, assistant superintendent and chief human resources officer, said the salary bump was the centerpiece of the teacher contract.
“The $2,000 added to each teacher’s salary schedule would be significant if you’re interested in money,” Huston said.
Kelly Craig, president of the teachers union, said the secondary special education lead stipend was among the most meaningful gains for members.
“One of our biggest wins this year was recognizing the leadership role our secondary Special Education teachers take on daily,” Craig said. “The Secondary SPED Lead stipend doubled to better reflect the additional responsibilities those educators carry at each secondary site.”
Craig said union leaders spent months gathering feedback from educators before formal negotiations even began, and that preparation helped talks move quickly. Formal negotiations took place May 4 and concluded in a single session.
“Kelly was able to get her team together pretty quickly, and we didn’t have many language items to discuss, so it went pretty quickly,” Huston said.
The teacher contract also establishes agreements covering a mentor teacher program, professional development time, attendance bonuses and reimbursement of certain CareerTech conference expenses. Certified employees at Mid-Del Technology Center will be eligible for a one-time $1,500 retention stipend. Teachers will also be able to request removal of certain performance materials from their personnel files after three years, down from four.
The support staff contract includes step increases for eligible employees and a 25-cent-per-hour raise across most salary schedules. One of its more notable features expands a perfect attendance incentive program that the district piloted last year with bus drivers and monitors.
“We tried it in the 2025-26 school year with the bus drivers and bus monitors, and it made a tremendous difference,” Huston said.
Under the expanded program, bus drivers will receive $150 per nine-week grading period of perfect attendance, bus monitors will receive $75, and child nutrition employees, newly added to the program will receive $100.
Support employees returning to Mid-Del Technology Center will also be eligible for a one-time $1,500 retention payment. The agreement additionally allows employees to receive salary schedule credit for up to five years of military service with proper documentation and updates policies on overtime, bereavement leave and military leave.
Huston credited the working relationships between district administrators and union representatives for the smooth negotiations on both contracts.
“Everyone understands the financial concerns that we face, and we move forward the best way we can,” she said.
The school board approved the contract with the teachers’ union at the May 11 meeting. The agreement with support employees, salary adjustments for employees not represented by negotiated agreements, were approved at the June 8 meeting.
Both contracts take effect July 1.
