No recommendations on wage increases were made to the Warsaw Community School Board during its Tuesday afternoon work session.
But the board could see something as early as next month and by no later than June after hearing a wage study and the wage situation at the corporation.
Several paraprofessionals and support staff at the school voiced their hope that the board would push through a pay increase for staff.
As noted in the Times-Union March 3, many paraprofessionals earn just $12,000 a year and other staff like custodians and food service staff earn minimum wage.
Those in attendance Tuesday were asked to give their comments.
After some prodding by the board, several decided to speak.
Linda Russell, who works in the administration office, said that the hesitancy of those to speak up “says something that isn’t good about the board we had until now.”
“It’s about feeling like you’re worth something,” said Russell of a pay raise.
“This is a big puzzle we’re trying to put together,” said Warsaw School Board President Jennifer Tandy of the wage situation.
WCS Financial Officer Kevin Scott presented what faces the corporation in terms of providing salary increases to the staff.
As WCS Superintendent Dr. Craig Hintz noted, the school corporation employs about 1,140 people, making it the fifth largest employer in Kosciusko County.
WCS saw $1,871,552 in cuts in 2010 and closer to $2 million in 2011.
The school responded with a cost reduction plan and a high deductible health plan, and was aided by increased enrollment.
The school used federal stimulus money previously which, going forward, it won’t be able to use.
Scott went through a salary and hourly wage comparison of different employees throughout the school system.
They were compared with a league of similarly-sized and larger schools throughout the state.
Those school districts were Crown Point, Elkhart, Kokomo, Lafayette, Mishawaka, Northwest Allen County Schools, South West Allen County Schools, Penn-Harris Madison, Plymouth and Valparaiso.
The positions were also compared to local school corporations Tippecanoe Valley, Wawasee and Whitko.
The percentage of hourly staff members that work 40 hours per week is 26 percent (144 employees). Others work as many as 30-plus hours per week but don’t qualify for benefits.
Of 15 positions that were looked at, Warsaw only paid more than any of the other schools on four hourly-wage jobs.
Nurses in the Warsaw School system fared better, making $20 an hour compared to the second highest wage of $18.21.
But as Scott pointed out, positions like nurses, mental health therapists and occupational therapists can make more money working in the private sector, leaving Warsaw at a competitive disadvantage.
First-year teachers at Warsaw with a bachelor’s degree make less locally than teachers at Wawasee. They make about $2,000 more than their counterparts at Whitko and about $600 more than first-year teachers at Tippecanoe Valley.
Teachers that reach their maximum salary earn more than those at Whitko but less than at Tippecanoe Valley and Wawasee.
Compared to similarly sized schools, Warsaw was in the middle of the pack.
In terms of the position of superintendent, Hintz was noted as making $139,000. That raise was recently approved by the school board and is retroactive to July 1, 2011.
That was tops among local schools.
Compared to larger schools that salary falls in the middle of the pack, with the highest wage coming in for Elkhart’s superintendent ($176,105) and the lowest wage coming in at Kokomo ($130,000).
One area where Warsaw lags behind in terms of administration is in principal positions.
Warsaw Community High School Principal Troy Akers makes $93,000, which is less than that at Wawasee and all other similarly-sized schools that were sampled.
Middle school assistant principals at Warsaw earn $62,000 a year, which is less than all schools in the study by at least $7,000.
Hintz noted that there are many people working in classrooms with teaching licenses who are making just $7.25 an hour.
While administration salaries lag behind, the spending power of people like cooks and janitors has decreased even more.
In 1988, a cook, on average, would make $4.75 an hour compared to the minimum wage of $3.35 and they served 698,400 meals annually.
In 2011, a cook made minimum wage at $7.25 and served 1,333,892 meals.
Scott went through the restrictions a school corporation has on what they can spend money on.
A school’s general fund is 90 percent salary and benefits to employees.
Money can’t be used to give raises through any other fund like the Capital Projects Fund.
“One thing you guys can do is ask your legislator for more flexibility in what we can use funding on,” said Scott.
“In so many things we do, we have no choice,” said school board member Dan Metzger.
The board estimated that with 900,000 man hours logged by staff each year, giving just a $1 an hour raise would add $900,000 to the school’s budget.
But there are also hidden costs associated with losing people and having to retrain new ones.
In the food services department, there was 43 percent turnover on 74 production positions.
“We need to look at every employee,” said Hintz. “We need to look if there is a way we can take care of this over two or three years.”
Hintz said he and his staff hoped to bring a couple different options to the school board.
The school board also discussed issues like long-range facility feasibility studies and board revision policies during Tuesday’s work session.
No action was taken on anything and the meeting had to be cut short due to Tuesday night's Community Quiz Bowl.
