The Highland School Board approved a teachers contract and their fiscal year 2022 budget during their meeting earlier this week.

The district’s 2022 budget totals about $12.5 million which includes $6.1 million for instructional services, $420,000 for non-instructional programs, and almost $2.6 million for other expenditures, with a tax-asking budget of about $4.4 million dollars which will result in property taxes decreasing from $13.06 to $13.01 per $1000 assessed valuation. Superintendent Ken Crawford says that allows school officials to continue to make good on a promise to the district’s taxpayers, “Even though we passed a bond issue a couple of years ago and we said we’d keep our taxes low and within a dime from where it was, we’ve decreased it the last three years, so very happy with that.”

Crawford says the school board and teachers union agreed on a new contract which will add $125 to teachers base pay, raising the average salary to $29,085 a year. He says with additional compensation possible for supplemental income, the total financial package is about a 2% increase over the current year.