Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Compensation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lexington 1 committee recommends layered salary changes; full package would cost about $12 million first year
Summary
A salary-study committee presented options that prioritize early-career teacher increases, support-staff adjustments and special-education supplements. Payroll staff said implementing all recommendations in one year would cost about $12 million; the board discussed phasing options and follow-up studies.
A district salary-study committee on Tuesday presented a package of recommended changes to teacher and support-staff pay scales and proposed supplements for hard-to-fill positions, with district payroll staff saying the full, immediate implementation would total about $12 million.
Dr. (Lindsay) Price and committee members presented two salary-schedule options and recommended "Option B," which applies a consistent methodology across the certified scale while giving a slightly larger percentage increase to early-career teachers (steps 1–5). Committee members and classroom teachers emphasized recruiting and retaining early-career teachers as a priority.
Payroll director Lindsay Price (presenting district cost estimates) said the change into Option B for the certified salary schedule would be about $7,600,000 in the first year; adjusting support-staff and bus-driver schedules would cost about $2,100,000; retaining the proposed "bump and hold" retention step would add about $580,000; moving special-education instructional assistants from pay grade 7 to 8 and adding 30 minutes to their day would cost approximately $681,000 combined; and special-education teacher supplements were estimated at about $1,000,000. "In total, this totals if we were to do everything all in 1 year, it would be about $12,000,000," she said.
Committee members recommended phasing in the package if needed and asked the board to consider targeted supplements for special education and other hard-to-staff roles. Several classroom teachers and committee members described retention pressures in special education and urged the board to prioritize those roles.
The presentation generated questions about funding sources and whether the board could sustainably support the recommended increases without state funding; the committee advised clear communication about funding options and suggested a phase-in strategy if the board chose not to adopt the full package immediately.
No final vote to adopt the salary changes occurred at this meeting; the report will form part of the board's budget discussions in early 2025.
