Page 20 - AASBO EDGE BTS 2023

DISTRICT SALARIES

BY DON HARRIS Mike Barragan Jeremy Calles
What to Consider When Comparing Salaries

with Other Districts

A compensation study to see how your district “You’ve got to have a plan,” he continued. “When
compares to others may avoid problems with employees hear you’re doing a study, they get
employees feeling underpaid, but it can be their hopes up. Then you see the price tag. You
somewhat tricky. may have to tell the employees the price tag is up
here and our budget is down here. We can’t close
Details about what you should know before the gap now.”
and after such a study were spelled out by
Jeremy Calles of Calles Consulting and Interim Barragan told of the difficulties Glendale
Superintendent of Tolleson Union School District Elementary has faced with a 4,000 decrease in
and consultant (True Professionals, LLC, NGSB, enrollment during the past 10 years and more
LLC and Calles Consulting), and Mike Barragan, losses looking ahead. The challenge of declining
Assistant Superintendent at Glendale Elementary enrollment, which means less money, plus the
School District. In a breakout session earlier this state’s ever-rising minimum wage caused problems
year for an audience of chief financial officers and at the district, Barragan said. “We weren’t doing
human resource officials, Calles recommended well making sure we gave competitive wages to
defining the purpose of the study, the method used employees,” he added, thanking Calles who helped
by whoever you hire to conduct it, and how you HR devise a plan to deliver wage increases.
can compare your district with others.
Proposition 206, the minimum wage law, forced
“Make sure you understand it and relay that to schools to increase wages for support staff while at
your people before you go into the study,” Calles the same time decreasing enrollment left districts
said. “Set expectations, for you and your partner with declining resources and closing schools,
in the study, so you’re prepared when you go into Calles said. “We had to cut back on raises to
those meet-and-confer meetings. It’s more than a others, while explaining the impact to employees
study – it’s telling a story of your district.” who didn’t have mandated increases.

A question to consider is why you feel the need for Since Prop. 206 passed in 2016, there has been
a comp study. “Maybe some people are unhappy,” what Calles called a compression of wages,
Calles said. “You don’t know if your district is negatively affecting higher-paid professionals.
disconnected from the market. How did you get That compression has to stop, he said.
there and where do you want to go?”
“You don’t know if your district

Some districts feel good about providing average is disconnected from the market.
pay and benefits, while others want to be in the
top one-third, or perhaps they want to improve in How did you get there and where
certain employee categories, Calles said. do you want to go?”
-Jeremy Calles

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20 THE EDGE BACK TO SCHOOL 2023