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Superintendent recommends full CPI increase for AST staff after district pay review
Summary
Kenosha Unified superintendent presented a review of AST (administrative, supervisory, technical) pay scales and recommended applying full consumer price index (CPI) increases for all employee groups, including 146 AST employees; staff said the AST portion of the CPI proposal is just under $500,000 and will appear on the Aug. 26 board agenda.
Superintendent (addressed in the transcript as the superintendent) told the board Aug. 14 that the district recommends applying a full consumer price index (CPI) increase to all employee groups, including administrative, supervisory and technical (AST) positions, after a multi-district salary comparison and internal pay-scale review.
The presentation said the district moved employees on salary schedules in June and that a CPI-based increase is intended to preserve employees’ purchasing power. The superintendent said Kenosha Unified has about 2,500 employees and that 146 employees—roughly 6.4% of staff—are in the AST group. According to the presentation, the AST share of the recommended CPI increase is “just under half a million dollars” of a broader approximately $7.4 million compensation package the district has discussed.
Staff described methodological challenges comparing districts: Kenosha’s internal classifications identify 86 administrative positions, while the DPI data clean-up reduces that to 58 under a common definition. Presenters warned that districts classify coordinator, supervisory and business-manager roles differently, which alters averages and cross-district comparisons. The superintendent said those classification differences and potential DPI data-submission errors complicate direct apples‑to‑apples benchmarking.
Board members asked clarifying questions about definitions and WRS (Wisconsin Retirement System) eligibility. Staff said all district employees who meet WRS thresholds participate in the system and that some historical reclassifications moved employees from a miscellaneous category into the technical group; those prior changes help explain variation across districts.
Why it matters: the superintendent framed the recommendation as a step to sustain morale and to honor the district’s pay‑scale process after a recent rightsizing that reduced administrative headcount. The board was told the AST recommendation had been tabled at a July meeting and will be on the Aug. 26 regular board agenda for formal consideration.
Next steps: the CPI recommendation for AST employees will appear on the Aug. 26 meeting agenda for board action; presenters said staff will also provide more detail on benefits and the assumptions used in comparisons.
