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Board asks staff for cost analysis after discussion of NJROTC pay and placement off teacher salary scale
Summary
Board members questioned why NJROTC instructors are paid off the teacher salary scale and asked administration to return with a comparison to neighboring districts and an estimate of fiscal impact if Norfolk moved instructors onto the teacher scale.
Norfolk school-board members on Wednesday pressed administration for a written analysis of pay and placement for Navy Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps instructors after administrators described a different compensation system for those positions.
Doctor Agnew Scott told the board the NJROTC instructors are paid by a split arrangement: the Navy pays half of the instructor compensation and the Norfolk school division covers the other half according to the federal MIP formula the Navy provides. Because the Navy-dictated salary differs from the local teacher salary scale, the administration places the instructors "off step" rather than on the division’s teacher step scale, Agnew Scott said. She added that the Navy’s quarterly compensation notices include cost-of-living adjustments that the division receives for those instructors.
Board members said neighboring divisions take varied approaches: some place instructors on the teacher salary scale and add a stipend or make other adjustments, while others use an off-scale approach. Multiple board members asked whether Norfolk’s approach is competitive and whether moving NJROTC instructors to the teacher scale — or adding a stipend to reach parity — had been costed out. The administration said it will prepare a comparative analysis showing how Norfolk’s NJROTC compensation compares with surrounding districts and a fiscal estimate of what it would cost Norfolk to change the instructors’ placement.
The board did not take immediate action; members asked that the report include: the current pay and credentials for each NJROTC instructor in Norfolk, how neighboring districts compensate equivalent positions, any stipends applied elsewhere and the local budget impact of a step-scale change or stipend. Administration representatives, including the superintendent, agreed to schedule meetings with NJROTC instructors and to return to the board with the requested data.
Ending: Board members said they want the analysis to inform any future budget amendment or personnel decision.
