The some 160 teachers in the Wayland Union Schools will get a 4.5% pay increase in the 2018-19 academic year and a 2.5% bump in the following year.

Wayland school officials indicate they are making up for Wayland teachers lagging behind other districts in salaries. Local teachers received only a 1% increase for the past year and Patricia Lynn Donaldson of the Wayland Education Association said she can’t remember the last time teachers earned as much as a 3% pay hike.

Kalamazoo Gazette education reporter Julie Mack three years ago published story on MLive about teachers’ salaries, which revealed Wayland had the fourth lowest teachers salaries in Allegan County and surrounding area in the 2013-14 academic year.

Wayland then was reporting a $53,810 average salary, Hopkins a $48,771 average and Martin a $53,698, average salary.

Donaldson confirmed that Wayland teachers will continue to have health care benefits reflecting an 80 percent contribution by the school district and 20% by each of the teachers.