The Waterloo School Board approved a new one-year contract with the Waterloo Classroom Teachers’ Association at a special meeting Monday night. 

Effective Aug. 1, the contract gives a six percent salary raise to teachers and increases the pay of substitute teachers to $100 a day or $115 a day for retired teachers. The previous rate was $85 a day for substitute teachers. 

“There’s really no other major components of it,” Waterloo Superintendent of Schools Brian Charron said. 

The school district and teachers decided to go with a shorter contract after approving a three-year contract last time because of all the uncertainty surrounding education and the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

“We have been good stewards of taxpayer dollars over the years, and we have a good surplus built up for a rainy day fund. But we don’t know what’s going to happen with the economy and with state resources, so we didn’t feel confident entering into a long-term agreement,” Charron explained before noting he thinks this was better for teachers because it allowed the district to be less conservative.