Decatur uses its Education Jobs Funds for staff bonuses, salaries

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

— Teachers and school staff in Decatur will receive a $500 bonus, thanks to the $93,382 from the Education Jobs Fund Program the Decatur School District has been allotted.

School board members decided how to spend the federal funds, distributed by the Arkansas Department of Education, at Monday’s meeting. They voted to give all 78 building level employees a $500 bonus, totaling $47,443. The remaining $40,464 will be used to pay existing salaries, so they will not have to be paid out of the school’s operating fund.

Decatur received a relativley small amount of money, compared to its neighboring districts because the funds are distributed based on enrollment numbers, superintendent Larry Ben explained.

Ben told the school board that he had organized a committee of teachers from both buildings to give input on the issue. He recommended not creating any new positions because the jobs funds are one-time money and the district would have to pick up the salary in the future.

Ben gave the board three recommendations of how to spend the money. First was to use the money to give all the employees bonuses. Second was to pay existing salaries, and thereby save the district money that would have come out of the general fund, and third was a combination of the two.

Because state law requires that all certified employees receive equal bonuses unless a majority of the teachers and the school board decides otherwise, district level employees must also receive the bonus. District level employees include positions such as the superintendent and the employees that work in his office as well as positions like the technology coordinator and transportation director. There are nine district level employees in Decatur.

Because the district level employees cannot receive money from the federal jobs funds, they will be paid from the school's operating fund at a cost of $5,474.25. The cost will be offset by the $40,464.75 of the jobs funds that will be used to pay existing salaries.

School News, Pages 12 on 12/22/2010