Charles City School Board looks to revamp salary scale

With one of the main focuses for FY2015-16 to provide employees a raise, Charles City School Board members heard options on how to address the long-standing problem of compression during an Apr. 21 meeting.

Interim finance director Sheila Minor’s presentation focused on the inconsistency of the school system’s pay scale for teachers. She said the unbalanced steps and the ability to compensate employees for years of service may be a factor why teachers choose to leave the county’s school system or not come to it at all. Minor presented an example of compression using the current scale, with three-year teachers making the same salary as six-year teachers in the school system. After year six, the teacher would receive a 4.3 percent raise each year up to year nine.

Minor’s first recommendation focused on restructuring the steps of advancement and capping it off at 30. The steps would address cost of living issues for future years, as well as bring consistency to the scale. She also said the board had to choose one of four options on how the scale would be built so employees could see how funding would be dispersed.

The interim finance director laid options on the table for school board representatives to address. With funding from the state government to support a 1.5 percent raise and the county’s support to up the amount to two percent, Minor said each option benefits certain groups while hindering others.

The original option calls for an all-out two percent raise. That option would move each teacher up two steps on the new scale, benefiting incoming teachers the most and other teachers up to step 20. That option, however, would call for compression at steps 5-8, resulting in no salary increases in that range.

Option A focuses on a one percent raise at each step, with milestone steps (such as step 5, step 10) being rewarded a higher percentage. This step benefits teachers who are currently receiving pay under the compressed scale and rewards teachers the most when they are operating between steps six and 14.

Option B calls for a 1.1 percent raise at each step. This plan is similar to Option A, with the exception of milestone steps not being compensated. Under this proposal, teachers who have served tenure to operate and make it to steps 16-24 would benefit the most, while incoming teachers would be hit the hardest.

Finally, Option C calls for a $400 increase per step, with a $700 increase at milestone steps. The recommendation benefits most employees in the middle of the scale while not benefitting employees nearing the top of the scale.

A color-coded spreadsheet allowed board members to see the cost differential for each step under each proposal. Some chose to comment on the issue.

“I personally favor a solid dollar amount per step,” said at-large member Steve Fuhrmann.

“I would like to know how employees feel about this issue,” added at-large member Preston Adkins. “They are the ones who are going to be affected by this and I want to see which one they prefer.”

Under recommendation of the school board, superintendent of schools David Gaston said he would meet with all school teachers in staff meetings. Board members are expected to make a decision on which option to adopt at a May 12 special meeting at 6:30 p.m.