Ritenour teachers sue school district
for $4.1 million in penalties

The Ritenour National Education Association filed suit today against the Ritenour School District to recover $4.1 million in penalties under the state’s salary compliance law. The suit was filed in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County. Ritenour NEA represents approximately 300 teachers in the district.

Missouri’s salary compliance law requires school districts to spend a certain percentage of current operating costs on compensation of certificated staff, which includes teachers, administrators and other licensed professionals. A school district that fails to spend the required amount on certificated staff compensation must pay a penalty to its certificated staff equal to 110 percent of the shortfall.

The lawsuit alleges that the Ritenour School District failed to comply with the salary compliance law for three school years: 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2001-02. Although the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education notified district administrators of this violation each year, the district refused to pay the penalties owed during the 2001-02 and 2002-03 school years. Furthermore, district administrators have indicated they do not intend to pay the penalty due this year.

The penalties for the three years of non-compliance are approximately $867,000, $1,356,000, and $1,878,000 respectively—for a total of some $4.1 million to be paid to the certificated staff employed by the district during the years in question. If the teachers prevail in the lawsuit, not only will they receive increased compensation, but also certificated staff who retired during the last few years will have their pension payments increased for the rest of their lives.

“The salary compliance law passed in the 1990’s requires school districts to maintain their commitment to quality teaching and learning by continuing to allocate a comparable percentage of their budget to certificated staff salaries even as revenues increase,” says Greg Jung, president of the Missouri National Education Association and a fifth-grade teacher in the Ritenour School District. “The Ritenour School District clearly did not maintain its level of effort and apparently does not intend to do so.

“The district’s position is clearly not in the best interest of staff or students. Ritenour’s students would benefit from the increased individual attention possible in smaller classes if additional certificated staff were used to reduce class size,” Jung adds.

Ritenour NEA is affiliated with the 32,000-member Missouri National Education Association, which represents teachers, education support professionals, students studying to be teachers and teachers retired from public schools in school districts and on college campuses throughout the state. It is also affiliated with the 2.7 million-member National Education Association.

Debra Angstead
Office 573-634-3203

January 5, 2004