Raises making waves

COEUR d'ALENE - Salary raises given last year to several central office administrators in the Coeur d'Alene School District are raising eyebrows now, as teacher contract negotiations for this year are at a stalemate and headed for mediation.

The pay increases ranging from 4 percent to 23 percent have a collective annual cost to the district of $104,000. Employees who received the pay bumps - none of them teachers - began seeing the additional money in their paychecks beginning Sept. 25, 2013.

"I realize that people are going to look at it sideways," said Superintendent Matt Handelman. "But there are decisions that must be made administratively to maintain and keep a team."

Handelman said the $104,000 is a small fraction of the district's budget. The district's total amended general maintenance and operations budget for fiscal year 2013-14, which ended June 30, was $67.8 million. This year's budget was set at $64.9 million.

"And people could say, 'Yes, but you're trying to take away benefits,'" Handelman said.

The main sticking point in the contract negotiations is an insurance premium hike of $500,000 that the board maintains it needs to share the cost of with employees. The board's final proposal to the teachers union, which was turned down, would result in less money in some teachers' paychecks. All health insurance participants would pay higher co-pays and share a greater percentage of the coinsurance cost.

The teachers are calling for a 1 percent base pay increase, which the district negotiators have rejected.

Derek Kohles, president of the Coeur d'Alene Education Association, the local branch of the state teachers union, said that while the teachers realize they have no say in the district administration's salary or hiring decisions, they do take issue with the administration's decision to increase the central office salaries while at the same time bemoaning the percentage of the annual budget spent on salaries and benefits.

The administration and board say that 90 percent of the budget is spent on personnel.

Salary compensation survey

The need for the additional compensation was determined by some members of the administrative team, who Handelman said approached him and made him aware that some central office salaries were significantly out of line with the pay other organizations in the region were giving for the same level of work. The information given to Handelman was based on a comparison of district salaries using information from Milliman Salary Surveys, a national organization that does regional and industry-specific compensation studies.

The Coeur d'Alene School District is the only K-12 public school district listed as a participant in Milliman's 2013 Spokane Area Compensation and Benefits Survey. But with about 1,200 employees, the school district's administration's workload is likely comparable to that of the other large employers who participated, including North Idaho College, Gonzaga University, Buck Knives and Kootenai Electric Cooperative.

Handelman said he was surprised that some of the existing central office salaries were as low as they were when they were brought to his attention.

Increased work demands

Of the 22 central office employees who received raises, five were employees of the district's information technology department.

One technology technician who was hired in 2011 received a 21.8 percent increase from $33,994 to $43,501.

Handelman said the increasing use of technology in the classrooms has put increased demand on the technicians in terms of workload, knowledge and skills.

"I'm afraid we're going to lose them. We hire them and get them up to speed, and then they leave for more pay elsewhere," he said.

Several members of the superintendent's "cabinet" received raises also. Frances Huffman, who was the director of special education services, received a 6.5 percent bump from $90,225 per year to $96,480. Mike Nelson, the district's director of assessments, was also given a 6.5 percent increase which raised his annual salary from $79,860 to $85,425. Kelly Ostrom, the district's director of human resources, received one of the largest compensation increases. Her annual salary rose 17.7 percent from $61,732 to $75,000.

Handelman said all three of those employees' roles had changed significantly over the years, with increased responsibility.

"We hadn't been able to correct these for several years," he said.

With Huffman, who retired at the end of the last school year to take a job with a local nonprofit, Handelman said he had hoped the pay increase would entice her to stay, but it wasn't enough.

Ostrom's former salary was lower than the highest paid teacher's salary, he said.

Talk of the raises came up Friday when the school board met to consider whether to seek property tax relief in the form of an emergency levy of $658,341 to help offset the cost of a districtwide enrollment increase of 149 students. The trustees decided to levy the full amount for the 2014-15 school year.

"There are board members right now that are taking heat for raises that were passed out to administrators in our district, taking a lot of heat," said Trustee Tom Hamilton, during the discussion. "I can't speak for the entire board, but unfortunately, some of us have heard about that, and I believe we'll hear more about that from the CEA as time goes on."

Hamilton said, during an interview following that meeting, that he was unaware of the raises when the decision was made to hand them out. He also acknowledged that such salary decisions are administrative and outside the school board's purview.

"It is Matt's decision, but there are times when there is wisdom in running something like that by your board," Hamilton said.