LOVELAND, Colo. – In December 2015, the school board and teachers union in the Thompson, Colorado school district reached a one-year contract agreement for the 2015-16 academic year.

The deal had been held up for some time, because a conservative majority on the school board, which was wary of the high costs of collective bargaining, did not want to do business with the union, according to ColoradoIndependent.com.

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“Without a deal, the Thompson Education Association sued the district for breach-of-contract, alleging the conservative majority never had any intention of approving a contract with the union,” the news report said.

The conservative majority of the board was swept out of power in the November 2015 elections. Union supporters were back in control, quickly approved a one-year union contract, and began negotiations for a subsequent contract, the news report said.

So how much did the one-year contract cost taxpayers of the district, in terms of compensation for teachers?

In 2015-16, 993 Thompson teachers were paid a combined $49,495,750 in base salary. That averages out to $49,844 per teacher.

The teachers also received a combined $16,312,310 worth of benefits, which averages out to $16,427 per employee. They also received $1,902,122 in severance play, for an average of $1,915 per teacher.

That brought the average compensation for Thompson teachers to at least $68,186 – $18,342 more than their average base salary.

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To be fair, we should note that Thompson school superintendent Stan Scheer was paid $170,000 in straight salary in 2015-16 and a whopping $43,676 in benefits. That brought his total compensation for the year to at least $213,676.