The School City of East Chicago Board of Trustees on Sept. 9 approved an administrator salary schedule for the 2024–25 school year after trustees debated timing, placement criteria and whether to delay the vote. Dr. Bourne, superintendent of schools, and district finance staff said the schedule is required to comply with the State Board of Accounts. Trustee Diane Smith moved to approve the schedule; Trustee Taylor seconded.

Board members discussed why the schedule was needed and how administrators would be placed within it. “I believe the last time we updated the administrative salary schedule was in the 2021–22 school year. We have been operating without one since then,” Dr. Bourne said, explaining the schedule will allow the district to show an approved salary schedule during State Board of Accounts audits. Ms. Simmons, executive director of business operations, told the board that State Board of Accounts auditors expect a board-approved salary schedule that matches payroll records.

Trustees pressed on how the schedule would be applied to current staff. Dr. Bourne described a placement approach the district would use: new administrators would generally be placed in the “beginning administrator” range, and existing administrators would be placed considering years of service, experience and education so that long-tenured administrators could be placed at a midpoint. “If they have been here for 10 years, they will fall into a midpoint range and that is how they will be placed accordingly,” Dr. Bourne said.

Some trustees sought more written criteria for lane placement. Trustee Gomez said she was uncomfortable approving only a salary grid without written criteria defining how an individual would be assigned to a lane. Trustee Gomez moved to table the item so the finance committee could review it further and to consider recent federal/state funding uncertainty; the motion failed for lack of a second.

Trustee Tatum and others clarified that the schedule being approved covers the current 2024–25 year and that a separate schedule for 2025–26 should be discussed as part of the upcoming budget process. Trustees also noted customary contract lengths: new certified administrators generally receive two-year contracts, while continuing administrators typically receive one-year contracts.

A motion to approve the salary schedule passed and the board directed senior leadership, led by Dr. Bourne and Ms. Simmons, to apply the schedule and present individual salary placements to the board on future personnel reports. The board did not adopt written lane-placement criteria at this meeting.

Why it matters: The board-approved schedule satisfies State Board of Accounts documentation requirements and formalizes pay ranges the district will use. Trustees signaled concern about transparency over how existing administrators will be slotted into those ranges and asked for more detail to be shared before individual hires or personnel actions are finalized.

Additional context: Board members noted the last formal update occurred in 2021–22; the schedule approved applies to 2024–25 and will remain in effect until amended by subsequent board action.