KALAMAZOO, MI -- Every full-time teacher employed at Kalamazoo Public Schools will be paid at least $40,000 a year.

The 2018-19 employment contract for the Kalamazoo Education Association was approved by the Board of Trustees during a meeting Thursday, Aug. 23.

The union presented a new system that replaces the old salary schedule, Amanda Miller, president of the education association, said Friday in an interview with MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette.

Instead of the traditional model that gave step increases and percentage raises, the new system gave at least a 2 percent raise across the board but included a $40,000 base salary for newer teachers, she said.

"It's a really big win," Miller said. "We are proud of it."

Trustee Lauren Freedman said the contract increase is "definitely a step in the right direction. They do such an important job and such a difficult job.

KPS Superintendent Michael Rice said the $40,000 salary is a "healthy increase" from last year. The base pay for teachers for the 2017-18 school year was about $36,000, he said.

A "relatively good year" of state funding allowed for the increase for teachers' pay, he said.

Rice said the state needs to increase funding to public education and encouraged the audience to vote in November for candidates who believe the same.

"This needs to be a pattern, not an exception," he said. "We need to get back to paying our teachers what they deserve not just what we can afford."

The district will transition into the new system that replaces the salary schedule of 25 steps with only five levels in the next two to three years, Miller said.

The new system allows the district to recruit more successfully at the bottom and retain teachers through their entire career, she said.

Board President Patti Scholler-Barber said during the meeting that the new contract is both "creative" and "progressive."

"Our staff means the world to us," Scholler-Barber said. "We'd give them the moon if we had it."

Trustee Jennie Hill abstained from the vote because she has a relative in the union, she said.