PORT ORCHARD — Members of the South Kitsap Education Association on Monday, Aug. 27, ratified a two-year contract that their leaders agreed to Aug. 6 with the South Kitsap School District.

The final step toward putting the contract into place will be the district board of directors’ acceptance of the contract at a board meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 5. That is also the first day of the school year in South Kitsap for first graders through seniors. The first day of kindergarten is Monday, Sept. 10.

John Richardson, president of the association, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comments, but a tweet sent out Tuesday, Aug. 28, by the Tacoma Education Association stated that SKEA members ratified the agreement Aug. 27. The Tacoma educators and their district are continuing to negotiate a new contract as of press time.

The Tacoma educators association also tweeted that South Kitsap’s new contract stipulates a starting salary of $53,000 for new teachers, topping out at $108,000 at the other end of the experience and education scale.

Jerry Holsten, South Kitsap School District’s executive director of human resources, said the contract language, however, states the salary for a beginning teacher with a bachelor’s degree and no experience begins at $52,000. He said the maximum salary “is just a shade over $108,000.”

He said to attain the maximum salary level, an educator would need to have earned a master’s degree and at least 90 credits beyond a master’s degree, and have at least 16 years of teaching experience.

“We couldn’t disclose anything [about the contract details] until the education association had gone through their process,” Holsten said. “But the teachers knew exactly what [the contract details] it is, so that’s the important part.”

Much of the contract negotiations, he added, involved “a lot of cleanup and language adjustments based on the new structure.”

After leaders from the district and education association tentatively agreed to the contract language Aug. 6, Richardson, the association president, said that “people will be getting professionally paid for what they do. The district showed they valued teachers for what they do.”

Holsten said the school district developed a competitive wage scale with the association “that’s appropriate for [how] our teachers are performing.”

“The education association feels good about the process, the district felt good about the process,” he said. “We worked very collaboratively with our association and have a good working relationship. We’ve worked on a salary structure that is very competitive and commensurate of their work.”

With school set to begin on Wednesday, the school district administrator said teachers returned to their classrooms earlier this week to begin work on staff development.

“I think everyone is eager to welcome a new crop of students back into our district and get them ready to go.”