A head start never hurts.

At least not when it comes to school staff contracts.

During Monday’s meeting, the Mankato Area School Board ratified the 2008-09 and 2009-10 contract for the district’s food service personnel. The only staff group that has not ratified a new contract is the district’s paraprofessionals. About 350 in number, paraprofessionals are the second-largest employee group in the district — behind teachers.

Food service staff received a 9 percent increase in their total salary and benefits package over the two years of their contract. The district’s other ratified contracts — with teachers, principals, secretaries, custodians and non-affiliated employees — were all within decimal points of 9 percent raises as well.

Statewide, less than a half-dozen school districts have pending negotiations with their teachers. This year, the Minnesota Legislature imposed a $25-per-pupil fine for districts that did not meet the Jan. 15 deadline for teacher contracts. Faribault and St. Cloud were among a dozen tardy districts that have since settled.

In the Big Nine Conference, salary and benefit increases for teachers ranged from 6.9 percent in Albert Lea to 9.4 percent in Austin. For school district with between 201 and 5,000 teachers, the average increase was about 7.6 percent.