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Horry County Schools committee flags assistant principal pay lag and budget options
Summary
Board members and district staff reviewed data showing assistant principals’ pay grew less than teacher pay over recent years, discussed retention and equity impacts and weighed options — from no-cost acting-AP assignments to adding dedicated AP FTEs (estimated at $123,791 each).
Horry County Schools trustees and staff reviewed district salary data on Nov. 3 and flagged a widening gap between teacher raises and assistant principal pay, with board members urging comprehensive budget fixes during the upcoming budget season.
District staff presented a five-year comparison showing teachers received a larger cumulative increase than assistant principals; the presenter said the total percentage increase for teachers with a bachelor’s degree over the cited period was 23.75%, while similar measures for APs showed smaller increases. Board members said the gap could hamper retention and the flow of candidates into AP roles.
The superintendent, Cliff Jones, framed the issue as complex and value-driven: "We've stepped into a complex problem," he said, adding that the district wants to avoid situations where "your direct reports made more than you did as a supervisor." Jones said staff would propose options during the budget season rather than offer an immediate fix.
Board members pressed staff on how the district’s step-placement rules and past compensation-study choices produced current inequities. Trustee Daryl Ricketts and others noted that step placement for non-teaching professional roles is set by the district rather than a state mandate. Trustee Pam Dawson warned the small daily-rate differences make the AP job less attractive: "I will be hard pressed to justify taking another $48.24 a day knowing what the additional responsibilities of an AP are compared to a teacher."
Staff also presented cost estimates for staffing changes. The full cost (salary plus benefits) to add a dedicated AP FTE at a school was priced at $123,791. Applying that figure across 53 sites (29 elementary, 1 intermediate, 12 middle, 9 high and 2 academies) would total roughly $6.7 million. As an alternative, staff described a no-cost option in some schools where a principal assigns an existing teacher FTE to serve as an acting AP when that flexibility is available.
Members asked staff to consider allocation formula changes (for example, smoothing hard cutoffs that currently grant or remove APs at specific enrollment thresholds) and to examine student-complexity factors (IEPs, multilingual populations) that might justify weighted FTEs. Chair Howard Barnard said the committee welcomed a comprehensive approach during budgeting: "When you add up those percentages, teachers get better than a 9% pay raise, and assistant principals get 4. That's where the difference comes…we need to fix that."
The committee did not take formal action at the meeting; staff were asked to return proposed options and data during budget preparation.
