Decatur School Board rejects committee raise proposals

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

— School board members denied proposals from Decatur’s teacher and certified staff policy committees and came up with their own propositions for staff raises at the Feb. 18 meeting.

Board members proposed raising Decatur teachers’ base salary by $500 and decided to give classified staff members a $0.30 per hour raise.

They denied a complex schedule of raises from the licensed personnel policy committee that would have rewarded teachers’ experience with increasing raise percentages. They also denied a request to give all certified staff - which includes secretaries, maintenance staff and cafeteria employees - a $1,500 onetime bonus.

The state is increasing the amount of money it gives the school district next year by 2 percent, and the raises are a way to pass that money on to staff members, superintendent Larry Ben said. The school board held two lengthy study sessions on Jan. 29 and Feb. 4 to discuss the best way to administer raises.

School board president Ike Owens said he reviewed a lot of proposals for teacher raises and felt the one that met the most needs while staying within the budget was to add $500 to the base salary schedule and extend it out two years. The salary schedule currently ends at 23 years, leaving longer term teachers without annual step raises. The total cost of the raises would be $34,609.

The board voted to approve the proposal. It will now go before the licensed personnel policy committee for 10 days before going back before the school board next month.

Board members Ike Owens, Aaron Owens, Darleen Holly and Amy Brooks also voted to give classified employees a $0.30 per hour raise. Board member Kevin Smith voted against the measure. The employees received a $0.40 per hour raise last year but hadn’t received a raise for the previous seven years. The total cost will be $19,863.

Smith said he was against giving classified staff members a raise because they received one last year and he felt it was inconsistent to give them a raise the following year. Ike Owens said he felt giving classified staff and teachers a raise during the same year would start them out on equal ground, making it easier for the school board to be more consistent in the future.

Since the classified employee policy committee made a request instead of a proposal, it did not require the board to make a counter proposal to send back to the committee. Instead, the board was able to make a final decision at the Feb. 18 meeting.

The licensed personnel policy committee proposal would have cost the district $46,609. It rewarded experience with increasing percentages of raises.

Decatur teachers haven’t received raises for seven years - since before the district was declared to be in fiscal distress in 2008. Decatur teachers’ average annual salary is nearly $11,000 below the state average and $4,000 below the salary of teachers in schools the same size as Decatur, according to the committee’s proposal.

The request from the certified personnel policy committee would have cost a total of $76,640. Certified personnel include secretaries, maintenance workers and cafeteria employees. The committee asked for a onetime $1,500 bonus, pointing out that teachers get a bonus of up to $4,000 from the state for working in a district with a high percentage of students who receive free and reduced lunches.

News, Pages 12 on 03/06/2013