Excelsior Springs levy would raise 70¢ per $100 to fund staff pay increases, district official says

Mark Bullmore, the district's incoming superintendent, told a public forum in Excelsior Springs that the school district is asking voters to approve a levy increase that would raise the tax rate by 70 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to increase salaries and benefits.

"The point of this is to increase general annual revenues, to directly improve salaries and benefits in order to address, our ability to recruit and retain staff members," Bullmore said, outlining the district's case for the ballot measure.

District officials and a third-party consultant, Educational Management Solutions, presented the results of a compensation study the district commissioned to compare local pay to peer districts. Bullmore said teaching staff at the district are about 9% below the peer median at entry steps (1–10) and about 6.5% below at higher steps, with the largest deficit at the masters-plus level. He said classified support staff are about 20% below starting pay median and about 8% below by step 15, and administrative staff are roughly 28% below starting pay median and 23% below by step 15.

Bullmore said the district employs about 375 people…