FILLMORE : Teachers’ Bonus for Year Will Total 5.5%

A final contract agreement reached between Fillmore teachers and district officials this week will bring the total payment for a onetime bonus to teachers to 5.5% of their salaries.

Under the agreement, approved by school board members Tuesday, all 159 teachers in the Fillmore Unified School District teachers will receive the bonus.

Teachers pocketed about one-third of the bonus in December. The final portion approved this week will be included in their paychecks, said Barbara Spieler, director of business services.

Because of tight school budgets, the district’s faculty is in its third year without a cost-of-living pay increase, but extra money has been available each year for unscheduled raises.

Money left over from last year’s $13-million budget and some lottery funds account for most of the $500,000 the district will use for this year’s bonus, Spieler said. The district also saved about $100,000 because it did not have to pay a property tax collection fee to Ventura County, as was expected, she said.

About half the total bonus for the year has been used to cover the gap between health benefit costs and the amount the district agreed to pay for benefits last year. Without the bonus, teachers would have had to pay part of their benefits for the first time in district history, officials said.