RE-1 Valley reviews 2026-27 salary schedules for school staff

The pay that keeps RE-1 Valley classrooms open, buses moving and buildings clean was back on the board table June 1, as directors reviewed proposed 2026-2027 salary schedules for licensed staff, long-term substitutes and classified employees.

The work session agenda showed the board moving through the Pledge of Allegiance, roll call and public participation before turning to the salary review. That makes the compensation discussion part of the district’s core summer budget work, not a side item. The schedules under review cover teachers, psychologists, social workers, nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, counselors, long-term substitutes and classified staff, including paraeducators, administrative assistants, custodians and food-service workers.

For Logan County families, the stakes run beyond a pay chart. RE-1 Valley serves 1,913 students in six schools across a rural district on Colorado’s Northeastern Plains along the Platte River, where the labor pool is shaped by Sterling Correctional Facility and small businesses. In that setting, even a small change in pay structure can affect whether the district fills hard-to-staff jobs and keeps support positions from turning over midyear.

The district’s current budget timeline shows how quickly those decisions have to come together. RE-1 Valley’s proposed FY2026-2027 budget has been open for public review from May 19 through June 16, with final adoption scheduled for the June 16 board meeting at 6 p.m. at the Hagen Administration Center in Sterling. That means the salary schedule review is happening in lockstep with the broader budget process, where school leaders have to balance staffing needs against the dollars available for next year.

The district’s public records also show how much of that staffing picture is already under pressure. RE-1 Valley’s recruiting page listed an ESL and Spanish teacher vacancy with an available date of August 5, 2026, a reminder that salary decisions are tied directly to hiring. For employees working 30 or more hours a week, the district offers single health, life, AD&D and vision coverage, with optional family coverage, optional dental and PERA participation, benefits that can matter as much as base pay in a rural market.

The salary-schedules page also shows separate pay structures for licensed teachers, special service providers, classified hourly and exempt staff, early educators, administrators, coaches, activity sponsors and substitutes, with prior-year schedules archived back to 2017-2018. That history gives the board a way to measure whether the 2026-2027 proposal is keeping pace with the district’s own recent pay decisions. The discussion comes under Superintendent Dustin Hunt, who took over after Martin Foster’s resignation and Brenda Kloberdanz’s interim service, and it lands at a time when RE-1 Valley is trying to keep its staffing structure stable for the year ahead.