THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 4, 1996 TAG: 9607020150
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 78 lines
By a 6-1 vote, the School Board last week approved in concept a plan to link pay raises for central office administrators to their performance, part of an ongoing effort to make employees accountable for improving the school district.
In another move, the board ended a long-standing practice of providing administrators and some other office staff an annual salary supplement of about $1,440 for local travel. Instead, employees now will be reimbursed based on their actual mileage and expenses.
Both actions reflect the board's push during the past year to rein in finances and to reward employees based on results - raising student achievement.
The board directed Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. to prepare a ``pay-for-performance'' plan before the board's December board meeting. Nichols last week presented the board an outline of a proposal patterned after the city's merit pay plan, which rewards bonuses for exceptional service and bases salary raises on work performance.
Such a merit pay plan could take effect as early as next July 1.
School board members raised the idea of merit pay during last summer's retreat during discussions of lagging student achievement on test scores. That debate focused primarily on teachers and principals.
But board members said last week they want to extend the concept of linking pay to performance to central office administrators.
Currently, all central office administrators get the same across-the-board salary increase. If a merit plan is ultimately approved by the board, the pay would be tied to annual evaluations.
Board member Joe Waldo said administrators should not get ``carte blanche raises without regard to performance.'' Board member Anita Poston added that ``merit pay is everywhere but government.''
There were some misgivings, however. Board member J.P. Fulton III worried that determining which administrators warranted merit pay would be ``too subjective.'' And member Anna Dodson, who voted against moving ahead with development of plan, voiced concern about moving too fast.
Presently, a consultant is reviewing salary scales for central office staff and ``classified'' employees, such as secretaries, teachers' assistants and custodians.
Under the plan Nichols presented last week, central administrators whose performance rated as ``needs improvement'' would not get a raise; those rating ``satisfactory'' would get the going across-the-board pay raise for that year; administrators who ``exceed expectations'' would get an additional salary raise of between 2 to 2.25 percent.
Finally, an administrator rating ``exceptionally meritorious service'' could get a bonus of up to 5 percent of current salary.
As for the change in the local travel policy, Nichols said the move should save money. The district's budget office said projecting savings was difficult - since records are not now kept of local mileage - but the office assumed savings of about $150,000.
In the current year, 461 employees, including principals and central office administrators, received $535,000 in annual travel supplements. Most of those employees received an annual $1,440 supplement - regardless of the amount of actual travel.
As a result, some employees did not receive enough to cover expenses, but others were given more than they spent. In addition, Nichols said, the travel supplement was counted as regular salary, which increased costs to the district because it had to pay employer-matching contributions to social security; those costs are estimated at $34,000 for the past school year.
Nichols called the shift a ``dramatic change from what's been going on for the past 10 years.''
``We want to make sure everyone gets what they're entitled to, but we don't feel the school system should be paying more than they're entitled,'' Nichols said.
Nichols added, however, that the change has ``not been greeted with open arms. Some people see this as taking away a pay raise that was given.''
School Board Chairman Ulysses Turner, however, said that was a ``false impression,'' since travel pay was intended to cover only actual expenses.
Employees will be paid 31 cents a mile, the rate approved by the Internal Revenue Service. Workers will have to document actual mileage and expenses on travel forms.
``I just see this as bringing us in line with what the business world does,'' board member Poston said.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK SCHOOLS MERIT PAY by CNB