Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 28, 1992 TAG: 9202280248
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
MONTGOMERY STUDY RANKS OTHER SYSTEMS' PAY
Montgomery County pays its school employees better than some but not as well as other nearby or same-size Virginia school divisions, a study by the school system shows.But Montgomery's benefits are generally better than others in the study.
For instance, among 19 school systems, Montgomery County was one of only five that paid 100 percent of an employee's health insurance premium, and the county paid the highest amount per employee at $2,145. Also among the systems surveyed, Montgomery paid the highest share of an employee's family health insurance premium.
The average annual salary of a Montgomery teacher, according to the study, is $28,600. The benefits package, including retirement and health and other insurance, amounts to one-third of the salary or $9,667.
The School Board's proposed budget for next year contains generous raises for all school employees, including an average 15.24 percent increase for teachers. Most school employees did not get raises this year.
But the size of the proposed raises has been questioned by the Board of Supervisors, which has asked the School Board for more information on how the county compares with neighboring school divisions.
The salaries have to be looked at in terms of this area, Supervisor Henry Jablonski told School Board members during a meeting Wednesday night. "It certainly doesn't cost the same for a house here as in Fairfax."
School Superintendent Harold Dodge responded that competitive salaries are needed to keep the county from losing teachers and to help with recruiting new teachers.
Mike Reilly, chairman of the education association's salary committee, said later that Montgomery County has a larger tax base and bigger school system than surrounding counties and should be at the top rather than somewhere in the middle in pay.
The association argues that even with the proposed raises, which would bring the average teacher's annual salary to $31,556, Montgomery teachers still would be almost $4,000 behind the average teacher's salary statewide of $35,360.
But the county's teachers don't do that poorly when compared with similar-sized and surrounding school systems, the school system's study shows. The study was done by Russell L. Holladay, Montgomery County schools director of personnel, based on the current school year.
Holladay surveyed 14 Virginia school divisions considered similar in size and characteristics to Montgomery County, plus seven neighboring divisions.
Holladay compared the salary scales of teachers, administrators and school support personnel throughout the systems, as well as benefits.
The starting teacher salary in Montgomery County is $22,600 and the top salary, which is reached after 21 steps, is $35,910. These do not include special supplements that are paid for having master's or doctorate degrees.
Of the 13 similar-sized school divisions responding to the survey, seven - including Roanoke County - have higher starting salaries than Montgomery County. And Radford and Salem, among surrounding school divisions, pay beginning teachers more.
Five of the similar-sized school systems and three of the surrounding divisions - Pulaski, Radford and Salem - have higher top salaries. But Montgomery pays more to its top teachers than Roanoke or Roanoke County.
In general, school administrators in Montgomery County have lower salaries than those in four of nine similar-sized school divisions that responded to the part of the survey dealing with administrative salaries. Prince George, a rural county east of Petersburg, for instance, pays its high school principals more than Montgomery County.
Of five nearby school systems reporting, only Roanoke and Salem pay administrators better than Montgomery County. A high school principal in Roanoke makes a top salary of $69,028 compared with $59,117 in Montgomery.
Top-paid school support workers, such as cafeteria workers, bus drivers, secretaries and custodians, tend to make more in similar-sized counties than they do in Montgomery County. But starting salaries for such workers are better in Montgomery.