Jackson Madison County board approves $25,500 bonus for superintendent, accelerates $5,000 endowment payment
Jackson Madison County School System Board of Education · December 16, 2025
Summary
The Jackson Madison County School System board approved a $25,500 bonus for Superintendent Dr. Marlon King for the 2024–25 school year based on previously adopted performance metrics and also approved accelerating a $5,000 endowment payment for 2025–26.
The Jackson Madison County School System board voted to approve a $25,500 performance bonus for Superintendent Dr. Marlon King for the 2024–25 school year and authorized accelerating a $5,000 endowment payment for 2025–26.
Attorney Dale Thomas told the board the district used an established metric to calculate the bonus after receiving final data. "According to the metric for the 24–25 school year, the bonus total will be 25,500," Thomas said, walking through each qualifying metric and the dollar amount it produced. Thomas listed qualifying items including a 7% increase in pre-K through second-grade AIMsWeb achievement (a $2,500 bonus), a 3.6% increase in Grade 4 promotion ($2,500), a 3.6% gain in grades 9–12 achievement ($2,500), a 68.9% ‘ready graduates’ measure ($5,000), district composite reading level 3 ($3,000), a 93.1% graduation rate ($5,500), and retention measures for certified and noncertified staff ($3,000 and $2,000 respectively). Adding those components produced the $25,500 figure, Thomas said.
Thomas also explained that, under the superintendent's contract, the approved bonus is subject to gross-up and will be paid within 30 days of board approval. He asked the board to authorize sending a letter to County Finance to process payment to Michelle Sellers’ office. Thomas said he prepared the letter "subject to the board's approval." The board motion to approve the letter and the accelerated endowment payment was moved, seconded and carried by voice vote.
The accelerated $5,000 endowment payment was described as a timing measure to reduce confusion during upcoming contract negotiations; Thomas said the payment was ordinarily scheduled for June 30 but was requested to be paid on Dec. 31.
No roll-call tallies were recorded in the meeting transcript; board approval was recorded by voice vote as "aye" and the chair announced the motion carried.
The board did not amend the superintendent's metrics or the contract language in that vote; it approved the calculation and the administrative step of sending the payment authorization to County Finance. The letter and the endowment acceleration were the final listed superintendent-compensation actions in the meeting.
