RE-1 Valley staff get step raises, teacher salary stays at $44,000

RE-1 Valley employees will advance one step on the pay scale next year, but the district will not give an across-the-board salary raise, leaving teacher starting pay at $44,000. For teachers, paraprofessionals and other staff, the move keeps wages moving forward for employees with tenure, but it also signals a tight budget as the district heads into another year of hiring and retention pressure.

The decision came as part of a wider budget discussion that also has to cover classrooms, transportation, operations and payroll across the district’s service area in Sterling, Crook, Fleming and Iliff. A district budget draft was presented to the Board of Education during a May 18 work session at the Hagen Administration Center in Sterling, followed by a regular business meeting the same evening. The board session was set to review responses to salary, benefits and working-conditions requests from four employee groups: Administration, Certified Staff, Classified Staff and SPEA.

RE-1 Valley’s budget picture showed some room to work with, but not enough to make broad pay changes without tradeoffs. District materials list a net assessed value of $412,627,526 for the 2025 assessment year used in the 2026 budget, a 9.68 percent increase from the year before. Even with that larger tax base, leaders chose to keep the salary schedule steady rather than lift pay across the board.

The district’s public financial-transparency page says Colorado law requires it to publish adopted budgets, audits, salary schedules and financial data files, underscoring how visible the pay decision is to residents and staff. District materials identify Dustin Hunt as superintendent and Luke Janes as chief financial officer, both of whom are helping steer the budget process for a rural system that serves a small northeastern Colorado community along the Platte River.

That local setting matters. The Colorado Department of Education describes RE-1 Valley as a rural district where Sterling Correctional Facility and small businesses are major employers, a reminder that school pay decisions can ripple through the wider Logan County economy. The district also operates in a relatively small system, with public profiles listing 1,887 students across seven schools in the 2023-24 year and another current summary placing enrollment at 1,972.

The pay decision lands alongside a major capital milestone. On May 21, RE-1 Valley was awarded an $8,388,952.44 BEST grant for a school improvement project, adding another large financial commitment to a district already balancing staffing costs, construction needs and classroom stability. A June 29 board work session is also listed on the board calendar, showing the budget and operations calendar will continue to shape decisions into the summer.