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Board reviews draft salary schedule as staff seeks to reconcile state career ladder with step-and-lane pay structure
Summary
District staff presented a draft salary schedule intended to marry the state career ladder with a steps-and-lanes structure; trustees asked for a cross-walk of current certified staff, cost projections over 15 years, and clarification of stipend mechanics tied to advanced degrees and hard-to-fill positions.
Lakeland District trustees spent the latter portion of their meeting reviewing a draft salary schedule staff described as a starting point to reconcile the state career ladder with a traditional steps-and-lanes pay model.
The Chair said the team "tried to listen to you intently during last week's workshop and just really kind of sifted through the conversation and tried to distill from that conversation what were the board's priorities," and noted that CFO Granthem prepared the draft. Staff described the draft as using placeholder figures to promote discussion rather than final offers.
Key features discussed: the draft keeps 2% step increases for most steps and introduces a purple-shaded threshold that ties advancement into an Advanced Professional (AP1) endorsement; staff said teachers can still advance by lane credits if they do not reach AP1. The draft shows a P1 starting salary of about $53,402 at the BA column and a master's column cell that the board noted sits roughly $850 lower than the existing schedule at a comparable cell.
Trustees pressed staff to provide a "shadow schedule" showing how current employees who earn above the draft would be treated, and asked staff to map current certified employees into the draft cells and provide 15-year cost comparisons that assume movement on the career ladder. Staff said advanced-degree payments are currently treated as separate stipends funded through state salary-based apportionment; the meeting cited a $3,500 figure for master's stipends and an approximately $1,900 figure for a bachelor's-plus-24 stipend but staff said they would confirm exact amounts.
Board members also discussed hard-to-fill stipends, whether they should be one-time or paid through the year, and placement rules for experienced incoming hires (for example, how to place an AP5 hire). Staff said negotiations will be required to finalize placement and stipend mechanics; the board generally aims to begin negotiations in late April or early May after state numbers are final and asked staff to prepare more concrete recommendations at the next work group.
The discussion also touched on state policy items: trustees asked about House Bill 0883 (referred to in the meeting as HO 883), an "earned autonomy" bill that staff said could give qualifying districts reporting and expenditure flexibility, and flagged partial passage of legislation affecting the IDEAL program that could require the district to cover match funds if the state's per-student contribution is limited (the meeting cited a possible $200-per-enrollment state contribution and noted the district might be asked to cover the remainder).
