Woodlawn Addresses Salaries, Storm Damage

WOODLAWN - The Woodlawn School Board approved higher salary indexes for all of its administrators and Superintendent Dr. Kevin Hancock informed the board that the district could have as much as $80,000 in damages from the recent winter storm.Hancock presented the board during its regular monthly meeting Monday with a comparison of Woodlawn’s administrative salaries to those of districts within the region. Woodlawn was at or near the bottom at every position, some $10,000 to $20,000 below what other districts pay for the same position. For instance, he said the salary for a high school principal ranged from a low of $81,500 (Fordyce) to a high of $97,000 (Junction City).To bring those salaries more in line with surrounding districts, Hancock recommended increasing the salary index in school personnel policy 3.1. A salary index is a multiplier applied to the base salary on a district’s salary schedule to determine pay for different jobs or duties.Hancock recommended increasing the indexes for the following positions: assistant principal be raised to 1.44; elementary principal to 1.64; high school principal to 1.70; and superintendent to 1.99.Board member Larry Reynolds asked about the impact the raises would have on the district’s budget. He noted that the district has had to move money from the building fund to the general fund the past two years to shore up the district’s year-end general fund balance.Hancock said those transfers were related more to meeting the costs affiliated with the $50,000 minimum teacher salary implemented through the state’s LEARNS Act as well as some other unexpected expenses. He did say earlier in the meeting that Norman Hill, financial consultant with the Southeast Arkansas Education Cooperative, told the district is currently on track to finish with a $250,000 general fund surplus that can be moved to the building fund.Overall, Hancock said the index increases will cost about $49,000...