School Board Divided on Hourly Staff Raises

Members of the Mehlville school board want more time to consider a raise for the district’s hourly staff, they decided Thursday.

The board ultimately voted 4-3 to table giving classified staff a 1 percent raise for the 2011-2012 school year because of extra funds from the previous year. The board’s new members, Rich Franz, Mark Stoner, Elaine Powers and Ron Fedorchak were opposed, while veterans Venki Palamand, Tom Diehl and Larry Felton wanted to vote on the issue.

Chief Financial Officer Noel Knobloch said 2010-2011 balances were about $2 million more than projected. The district received $800,000 in additional revenues and had $1.2 million in savings on the expense side. The raise would cost the district $120,000 plus $15,000 in payroll taxes and benefits. 

Due to a memorandum of understanding between the board and the Mehlville National Education Association, if revenues exceed $500,000 more than projected, half of the extra funds must go to teachers’ salaries, which are certified employees. Classified employees are paid hourly and consist of bus drivers, custodial staff, nurses and aids.

“We’re suggesting that in fairness of the classified staff, since the decision to freeze their salaries was based on that same forecast, we adjust the steps for the classified hourly people… by one percent,” Knobloch said. 

The board implemented a salary freeze for the current school year, which required all employees to stay on their current step pay level. The increase will raise that level's amount, but employees will not move up to the next step, as they typically would without a salary freeze.

After Knobloch told the board no administrators were getting raises, Diehl moved to pass the measure.

“My concern is that there was no information pertaining to this presented to us in detail prior to tonight,” Franz said, wanting to table the vote for a later date. “But I think because of that, we deserve to look at this and consider it a little bit more prior to voting on it.”

Powers also said she thought the board should discuss if this was the right way to use the extra money, but the board initially voted 5-2 not to table the issue. Franz and Stoner were opposed, and the board started discussions. 

Knobloch said that the raises for certified and classified staff were figured into the 2011-2012 budget.

“This will not cause us to go deeper in debt,” he said. “There is enough cushion in that budget to cover something like this.”

But Powers said she was concerned about the future effects of the raise, saying raising the steps was usually permanent, and the revenue to fund the raise was unexpected and might not come this year.

“You’re talking five years, that’s $600,000. It’s disconcerting considering the economic condition,” Stoner said. “It just seems to me, as a board, the one thing I don’t want to send to taxpayers, every time we have a little surplus, we’re going to give this out in terms of a raise.”

Knobloch said that it was precedent to give classified staff a raise if certified staff got one, but it was not a legal requirement.

“It has been a practice not to treat one group of employees differently from the other,” he said.

Diehl said if the economy worsens, the board will have to look at employee salaries across the board anyway.

“These are some of our lowest-paid employees,” he said. “If we’re going to pinch pennies on them, it’s really going to send a negative message.”

Stoner asked Lisa Counts with the district’s human resources department if the district had problems filling classified staff positions. She said 100-150 people typically applied for one custodial position, with specialty positions bringing in fewer applicants.

Franz and Powers both said they weren’t sure if the raise was the best way to spend the district’s money, and budget priorities should be discussed at the board’s retreat Aug. 13. Franz mentioned capital spending as a different way to use the money.

After a vote to end discussion, Powers made a motion that passed 4-3 to table the issue until the retreat. Palamand, Diehl and Felton were opposed.

Knobloch said two paychecks have already been out for the 2011-2012 year and delaying the decision would only make it more complicated to pay the raise, but otherwise, it would not hurt to wait. 

“It’s really not going to make a lot of difference in way the district operates,” Diehl said. “It’s not going to make a lot of difference as far as what happens in the classroom, but it’ll make a lot of difference in the lives of the people who drive our kids to school, track their health… custodial people."

The board will meet Aug. 13 at 9 a.m. at Forder Elementary for the annual retreat.