Received next year's contract today

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The district has to give us our annual contracts by May 15. Then we have to sign them and return them by June 1 to indicate that we want to continue our employment. I always like to receive it because I have no idea where my hard copy of the contract is that lists the salary increases as you move up the steps. This year was my 21st of teaching and it put me on step 18. I had *just* creeped over the $80K threshold with my 20 year service bonus. Next year I am on step 19 and the base salary is $83,095. I also will receive $900 for the service bonus which puts me at $83,995. I don't think the district/BOE and the teachers union has ever agreed on a new contract without declaring impasse and requiring a mediator. 2 contracts ago we went without a contract for almost 2 years only finally coming to an agreement after a new (interim) superintendent took over. I think it was settled within like a month. The one before this one we went for over a year without a contract and had to start doing job actions. The current contract was at impasse and on the way to mediation when that same interim superintendent returned to the district for a year and again got it settled quickly. We even received retro pay! I remember being pleasantly surprised at this contract's salary steps. Yes I am making my way to the top and the yearly increases get better the further along you are in your career. I remember years in the past when my salary increased only by $600. That was also back in the Chris Christie nightmare years where we suddenly had to contribute toward medical despite being hired with the promise of no employee contributions and having to pay more towards our pension as well. There were MANY years that I was just going backwards. Having to pay more and not having salary increases keep up with that. Now I'm going to be getting nice $4000 and $5000 raises for the next couple of years. That is a good thing because Darwin knows that nothing is getting less expensive these days. side note: I know some people think it is obnoxious or offensive to talk about how much money you make. I get it. For me, though, I am in a different situation. As a public employee my salary is public record. The local newspaper literally has a database where you can look up the salary information of public employees, tax information about residents, overtime hours for police, etc. It isn't a secret. I don't think I am entitled to specific salary information for those who work in the private sector but my stuff is all out there. I'm fine with it.