Weltz gets three-year contract; retirement incentive offered to veteran teachers
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POLSON — The Polson School Board unanimously approved a new three-year contract for Superintendent Rex Weltz last week.
The board, which last month removed the “interim” tag from Weltz’s title, approved a $118,000 per year contract that includes a cost-of-living adjustment in subsequent years.
Trustee Chanel Lake said she was “super, super thrilled and excited” to have Weltz on board for three more years. Weltz is in his first year as superintendent, taking over for Linda Reksten. He previously was principal at Polson High School for four years.
In other news, the board approved a retirement incentive for teachers who have at least 17 years with the district and 20 with the state of Montana’s retirement system.
The district is offering three elementary and two high school teachers the opportunity to receive $10,000 or two years of health insurance, which represents $510 in monthly premiums or $12,240 over two years.
The offer is being made on a first-come, first-served basis until March 15.
After the meeting, Weltz said he values the district’s veteran teachers and noted that the offer is being made to manage the budget.
“In a healthy organization, we’d like to be at 85 percent of our general budget in salaries,” he said, noting that salaries currently account for about 91 percent of the budget.
Thirty-two of the district’s 126 employees are eligible for the benefit, Weltz said.
“There are a lot of districts that do this to try to manage their general budget,” he said.
The district will begin seeing a savings after a year for teachers who take the incentive, he said.
A similar incentive was offered last year but only three took advantage of it. Weltz said he doesn’t foresee making the offer again next year, but may offer it again in three years.
The board also changed the dates of its next two monthly meetings to March 6 and April 3 since Weltz, board chair Caroline Mc- Donald and trustee Tim McGinnis plan to be at the state Legislature on March 13, and April 10 is during spring break.
