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Manitowoc School District committee recommends market-focused pay adjustments and matrix cleanup for support staff
Summary
The district’s curriculum & instruction committee recommended a package of one-time market adjustments and pay-matrix cleanups to the full board, proposing 7.5% raises for paraprofessionals, clerical and custodial staff and 3% for certain non‑certified positions; presenters said the cost is about $600,000 with $375,000 from the current budget.
The Manitowoc School District Curriculum & Instruction Committee voted to recommend to the full board a package of support-staff pay adjustments and a cleanup of pay matrices intended to make wages more competitive and improve retention.
Stacy (director) told the committee her office reviewed state and regional data and proposed targeted increases: a 7.5% increase for paraprofessionals (transcript spelled “pair professionals,” corrected here to “paraprofessionals”), building clerical (head secretaries/office assistants) and custodial/maintenance staff, and a 3% increase for non‑represented/non‑certified roles such as computer technicians and educational interpreters. "So it would be a total of about $600,000 that this would cost us," Stacy said.
Nathan (director for business/budget) said the board had earlier approved a 2.63% raise that totalled about $225,000 and asked the committee to recommend using another $375,000 from the budget as a one‑time adjustment to cover the proposed market moves. "We're not asking for extra. We're just asking out of the budget to use another $375,000 to do this one time adjustment," Nathan said.
Presenters also described changes to pay matrices: consolidating overly granular lane letters into at most four lanes, removing obsolete position titles, and increasing the span from minimum to maximum pay in several categories to create clearer progression (presenters said custodial and paraprofessional spans were widened to roughly $6.50/hour between min and max). Stacy said the intent was to reduce the incentive for short‑term turnover and reward longevity; she cited a recent retiree who served 46 years as an example of the kind of long‑term service the district wants to retain.
Committee discussion emphasized retention. One committee member called the increases "overdue," saying some paraprofessionals "could probably go work at McDonald's and make more money." Committee members asked how the district would keep the adjustments under review; Stacy and Nathan said they plan an annual review using the same data sources.
The committee moved and seconded the recommendation to the full board and approved it by voice vote; the committee's meeting record does not include a roll-call tally.
What's next: The committee recommended the wage-adjustment package and matrix changes to the full school board for approval. If approved by the board, staff said the district will implement the new matrices and the one‑time budget adjustment, and will review wage positioning annually.
Notes on sources and wording: The transcript repeatedly used the phrase "pair professional." Because standard education terminology is "paraprofessional," the article corrects that term and notes the correction here. Vote tallies were not recorded in the committee transcript; this article reports the committee's voice approvals without implying a recorded roll-call count.
