Our Education Committee meets periodically with the District’s Superintendent,  Nancy Kline and the District School Board to discuss ideas and share taxpayer concerns.  Most of our recent  concerns center around the 90 percent of the budget that covers pay and benefits.  In this article we will focus on two areas of our concern  - the Western Zone Supplemental incentive plan and the Supplements pay to instructional staff. 

The district has a little known incentive covering staff assigned to the Indiantown Middle and Warfield Elementary schools known as the Western Zone.  The plan was designed to attract quality employees in order to improve schools in this area.  Payroll records indicate that there are 108 employees (4 administrators and 104 teachers) who are budgeted to receive a total of $316,320.00 in incentives.  Employees in the plan receive  an annual recruitment and retention incentive of $1665.00 and an another incentive of $1375.00 in addition to their regular salary.  The current union contract also calls for a onetime $2,000.00  recruitment incentive for those assigned to the Indiantown schools noted above.   This discretionary award was instituted by the previous Superintendent, Dr. Wilcox, but according to the district, has not been paid since she left. However, the union contract states that the payment shall be granted.  Either way, if this incentive were added, it would be the third incentive on top of an already rich package of incentive pay. Why? 

Because district employees live throughout the county, including Indiantown, we believe paying 108 employees over $300,000.00 to work there is not justified.   The policy should be cancelled, or at a minimum, be reduced from multiple payments to one, and be reviewed annually for continued need. 

Our other concern is the $2,541,380.00  in pay supplements for instructional staff who provide "extra services" in over 80 different categories of work such as athletics, social clubs, etc. The supplements range from 2 percent of pay for acting as club sponsors to 20 percent for Deans, Chorus, and Band staff.  While important, we have concerns over the millions being expended for these reasons.  

First, there are far too many job categories that receive "extra pay."   Second,  we question the need for the large percentages of extra pay for  the high end positions. For example, why should a Coach or a Dean receive a 20 percent incentive for simply doing their job?   If there are extraordinary performance requirements in these jobs, they should include a set of predetermined with measurable outcomes.  We find no evidence that any goals exist for any of these jobs.  We also believe that should the plan be retained that the number of jobs in this plan be reduced and consideration be given to using non-paid staff  - volunteers, parents, etc., to satisfy some of the needs articulated in the plan.  

We also believe that the jobs should be regrouped and averages used rather than individual percentages applied.  This should result in a less costly plan.        

We call upon the Superintendent  Kline and the school board, to address the issues outlined in this article, and seize the opportunity to cut costs.  We recognize that changes in these programs  must be negotiated with the unions, and this should be done during the next round of contract talks.

The MCTA believes in a strategy of reducing costs in order to preserve jobs and services, and we encourage the county's unions to take an active role in this process.