GENTRY — School board members voted unanimously on Monday to give each staff member of the district a $1,000 bonus, with money for the teacher and school employee pay coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and money for the bonus for the six employees in the central administrative office coming from operating funds.
Rather than increasing salaries with the one-time ARRA education jobs money - the district is entitled to $277,000 in reimbursable federal money for education jobs - and obligating the district to continue to pay higher salaries out of the district’s operating funds in the future, a one-time bonus was recommended by school superintendent Randy Barrett for all entitled employees and approved by the board.
Barrett estimated that thebonus would cost less than $240,000, leaving close to $40,000 left in available ARRA education jobs money for the district to use.
Though the intent and desire to work toward increasing salaries has been voiced by both Barrett and the board, conservative financial planning has been the order of the day since the district was released from fiscal distress status last year, especially so with the possibility of declining tax revenue in the future because of lower property valuations.
Because the six employees working in the central administrative office were not eligible for pay from ARRA funds, they will be paid from general operating funds. With additional ARRA funds yet available for teacher pay, the possibility of paying a teacher’s salary from the funds was discussed. The option wouldfree up additional funds in this year’s operating fund and more than offset the bonus paid to administrative staff in the central office.
In an e-mail communication addressed to district staff, Barrett wrote: “At its regular Dec. 13, 2010, meeting, the Gentry School Board unanimously voted to use the lion's share of the one-time Education Jobs Fund allocation to provide a $1,000 bonus to each contracted employee of the Gentry School District. Because this is one-time revenue, the money is being given as a bonus and is not associated with any change to the salary schedule.
“While I cannot often speak definitively for the school board, in this instance I can say that theschool board values your importance, in the distinct role you perform each day, to the mission of the district. They realize that it takes each employee doing his or her respective job for our district to function properly.
“I want to thank each of you as well for what has been a good first semester of school.”
The matter of teacher salaries was also discussed at Monday’s meeting bymeans of a comparison of starting teacher salaries in northwest Arkansas and across the state. Though the Gentry School District is pretty much in the middle or slightly above the median in comparison to starting teacher salaries across the state, the district ranked much lower when compared to other area districts, according to Barrett.
The district, though it does better in regard to teachers with advanced degrees, has been behind on the salary schedule in comparison with area schools for about two decades, Barrett said.
“We have work to do tostay competitive with other schools in the region,” Barrett said. “While we will never be able to keep up with some of the larger districts and maybe not even Gravette, we should keep up with other districts (our size),” he said.
The salary information and comparisons were presented only for informational purposes, Barrett said.
The only action taken relating to teacher salary schedules was the unanimous adoption, on its second reading, of a policy change which restructures the stipend schedule to even 5-year steps for years of service in the district andadds a $300 stipend for the teacher who produces a school newsletter if done on personal time.
Also placed on its first reading was a policy change recommended by Barrett to add a stipend of $2,000 for teachers with a National Board Certification. The recommendation came after Barrett recognized Gentry teacher Jennifer Pierce for obtaining her National Board Certification.
Overall, Barrett reported that the district is in good financial shape, with an ending balance for Period 5 of the current fiscal year about $200,000 more than last year.
News, Pages 1 on 12/15/2010