The Albert Lea school district will increase teacher, custodial staff and executive administrative assistant pay for the next two years after a unanimous vote Monday by the school board.

The increases were agreed upon after negotiations with the three unions.

“All three of them, we heard the priority being salary enhancement,” Executive Director of Administrative Services Jim Quiram said.

Quiram said the negotiations went fairly smoothly.

“I would say this is one of the better rounds of negotiations we’ve had,” Quiram said.

The increases in pay this year are in line with increases in years past, he said.

The state has changed the funding formula, which increases the district’s funding by 2 percent. This increase acted as a guideline for negotiations with the three groups, Quiram said, in what the district was able to provide as it considered how to divvy the 2 percent up among between different funding areas.

The agreement with the teacher’s union, the Albert Lea Education Association, increased the salary schedule by 2 percent. The final package also included an increase in health care contributions by the district. The two-year increase for the overall package was just under 8 percent.

Albert Lea Education Association President Al Helgerson said the teachers union was happy with the agreement that was reached. Union members took an absentee vote on Friday and a regular ballot vote Monday before the school board meeting.

“When you go into negotiations, you don’t get everything you want, but you’ve got to realize that. Everybody that I talked with I haven’t heard any bad comments about it,” Helgerson said. “It seems like it’s a fair solution, this contract.”

The membership passed the contract with more than the two-thirds vote needed.

He said this is one of the earliest times the contract has been settled. Helgerson attributes this to the experience of the negotiations team.

“Our negotiating team is a very well-oiled machine,” Helgerson said.

The agreement with district custodial staff dealt largely with a salary enhancement and increasing longevity pay. For the first year, the salary enhancement was set at 3 percent, and for the second year, 2.5 percent. There was also a small increase in the district’s health insurance contributions, bringing the total package increase to just under 7 percent.

The executive administrative assistant agreement included a 2 percent salary enhancement for both years, as well as an increased district contribution to single and family insurance. There was also a restructuring of the longevity stipend. Their two-year overall package was increased by 7 percent.

“I think having good employee agreements that are well written and understood, I think it helps people feel valued,” Quiram said.