EBOE OKs early pay raise for staff—twice

In a vote on the same subject twice within minutes, the Enterprise Board of Education approved a pay raise for some schools employees starting in July—twice.

At the EBOE meeting June 28, Enterprise Schools Superintendent Dr. Camille Wright recommended that the board approve a 2016-2017 salary schedule that included

paying the state mandated cost of living raise for employees beginning in July or at the beginning of the contract period for employees.

The proposed salary schedule also included a 4 percent raise for all employees who earn less than $75,000 a year and a 4percent raise for all principals and assistant principals. Employees earning more than $75,000 a year will receive a 2 percent raise, except for the superintendent, who will not receive a raise, Wright said.

Wright told the board that the raise was state legislated to begin in October, however increased health insurance premiums would be deducted from the employee’s paychecks two months prior to that.

“I’m going to use this public forum to bash Blue Cross and Blue Shield,” EBOE member Danny Whitaker said. “Every time teachers get a raise, their insurance premiums go up at the same time.

“Their insurance premiums are going to go up in September, which is before the state even allocates the funds for their raises so that means we have a lot of employees who are going to be hit with an insurance premium hike before they get their raise,” Whitaker said.

Wright said that if the board approved her recommendation, the funds would be taken from local school funding. Wright said that if the pay raise were to start in July, it would cost local funding $169,000. Raises in August would cost local funding $118,000. By October, all the raises will be state funded.

EBOE past president Bert Barr said he is a “big proponent in having a three month (monetary) reserve and “we are moving in that direction.

“This is why we fight to save money when we can. It is so that local funds can be spent,” Barr said. “I’m all for spending it on our people. What better thing could we spend it on? They are going to be hit with a cost of insurance increase so I’m ready to vote if everybody else is.”

Barr made the motion to accept Wright’s recommendation and Whitaker seconded the motion. The vote was Barr, Whitaker and EBOE member Gloria Jones voting for the motion.

After asking for clarification that $169,000 in local funds would have to be spent to approve Wright’s request, EBOE member Robert Doerer voted against it.

Immediately after the vote, Whitaker asked for the amount of local funds to be used if the raise would begin in July to be repeated. He was told $169,000.

At that point, EBOE President Dorothy Richardson called for a second vote on the same motion. In the second vote, Whitaker and Dorer voted against the superintendent’s recommendation. Barr and Jones voted in favor of it.

Told by Wright that she had to break the tie vote, Richardson replied, “I vote July.”

The 2016-2017 salary schedule also included an attendance incentive that Wright said would hopefully increase attendance of employees, thus decreasing the cost of hiring substitute personnel. “We want to reward those people who go the extra mile to come to work every day,” Wright said.

In other business, the board also approved Wright’s recommendation to table acceptance of construction bids on the new Coppinville Junior High School after Wright explained that both bids received had been over the budgeted amount.