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In comparing wages of current staff with other He recommended making data- driven decisions.
districts, years of experience can make it
difficult. “Your employees might have 10 years
of experience, while the neighbor district only
has four years,” Calles said. “That’s not apples
to apples when experience is different. It’s a key
variable. It’s important to compare the staring
base and how you increase for experience and
education. You need the full picture.”
Another issue to consider is performance pay and
stipends, according to Calles. “Is it a stipend for
performance or is it given to all employee classes?
he said. “Maybe the stipend is for being bilingual.”
He explained when using a stipend amount in
appropriate for salary comparisons.
Comparing daily rates can be tricky. Some districts
have 185 days while others have 200. The extra
15 days makes huge difference in the daily rate,
Calles explained.
Barragan said benefits are also difficult to compare.
He urged AASBO members to get full credit for
the insurance benefits their district provides. “It’s
super important to talk about your challenges to
your board – the need to attract good, quality staff
and the need to retain people you have and address
needs of incoming staff.”
Calles cautioned about hiring a new employee who
gets paid more than existing staff. “That makes
everybody upset,” he said. “You don’t want that.”
Eventually you need to decide what to do with
results of the salary comp survey. With limited
resources, Calles suggested you might decide to
target one employee group first: “Fully satisfy one
employee group or partially satisfy all employee
groups”
Barragan warned: “No matter who you pick first,
you’re going to be wrong.”
“Some people will say why did they get a raise
and I didn’t. If you didn’t get large increase,
you were closer to your worth than others. Not
everybody likes that.”
Calles noted: “We see a lot of teachers making
more than assistant principals, and we have entry
level staff making more than their supervisor.
Think how that plays out.”
Barragan suggested that the current system
diminishes the incentive to move up the ladder.
“It’s a touchy subject,” he said.
“Another difficulty is comparing job titles. For
example, one district may have a payroll clerk
while another has two levels of payroll clerks,”
Calles said.
Another issue to consider if you want to bring
your wages up to the median level is what other
districts are doing. “You find out everybody
increased salaries and you’re down at the bottom
again,” he said. “Consider what the average is
going to be next year – assume what your peers
are going to do.”
Barragan offered a not-too-pleasant outlook:
“You might have to close schools. That’s a
decision our Governing Board made to remain
solvent. I’d rather go up to bat and strike out than
never go up to bat at all.”
Calles, emphasizing the importance of planning,
said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any
path will take you there.”
Jeremy Calles can be reached at: Jeremy.Calles@TUHSD.org
Mike Barragan can be reached at: mbarragan@gesd40.org
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