North Kansas City Schools board approves multi-part salary schedules; average raises about 4–5%

The North Kansas City Schools Board of Education on April 22 approved a set of salary schedules covering classified staff, supplemental pay, certified teachers and school psychologists, and administrators that district officials said will raise pay roughly 4–5% on average for most employees.

Chief Financial Officer Matt Frist, presenting the proposals, said the classified schedule changes and related supplemental-pay adjustments are designed to produce an effective average increase of about 4.35% for nonadministrator classified employees, while the certified teacher and school psychologist schedule yields an estimated overall average increase of about 4.85% across the affected steps and lanes. "This schedule... allows for all of those folks to get an average of 4.35% increase," Frist said.

The salary changes combined carry a multi-million-dollar price tag. Frist said the classified and supplemental schedules total roughly $2.9 million and the certified schedule adds about $5.7 million for teachers and psychologists. The board materials list roughly 1,500 classified staff covered by the classified schedule and more than 1,720 certified staff affected by the certified schedule. A separate administrators memo shows roughly 188 administrative positions with individual salary changes listed in the board packet.

Why it matters: the raises affect the district workforce across dozens of job categories and increase ongoing personnel costs that…