Educational Aides' Pay Increase Offset by Insurance, Pension Hikes

Total compensation for Shorewood educational aides decreased 1.77 percent for this school year; even with school officials approving a 2 percent salary increase Tuesday night.

The pay for an entry-level health or instructional aide now starts at an hourly wage of $11.36 while an aide at the top of the scale will earn $14.07. For special education aides, the range is from $12.22 to $14.93 per hour. The increases are retroactive to July 1.

Aides, like other district employees, now pay 12.6 percent of their health care premium and 5.8 percent of their pension through the Wisconsin Retirement System, though officials decided during their budget process last year that new aide hires would no longer be offered health care benefits.

The increase in pension contribution is from a change in state law, and school officials asked employees start paying more to health care premiums. Both increases have been in effect since last year, and together, more than offset the raise.

Shorewood’s aide pay scale is in the 25th percentile compared to other districts in southeastern Wisconsin, according to Business Manager Mark Boehlke.

District administrators recently received a . Additionally, managers saw a pay hike of 2 percent, but total compensation decrease of 0.56 percent.