Senior level administrators in the Anne Arundel County Public School system won?t receive quite as big a raise next year as they had hoped.
Anne Arundel County Council members slashed half of the funding budgeted for upper level district administrators, leaving that group with a 3 percent cost of living adjustment instead of 6 percent.
The cut in funding will affect senior administrators from supervisors to deputy superintendents who are not represented by a union, and who make between $66,634 and $147,734 per year. The superintendent?s salary will not be affected because that is part of the negotiated employment contract with the Board of Education.
“The council wanted to give as much money as possible to the classroom and the students,” said Council Chairman Ed Reilly. “The administrators aren?t going to raise test scores.”
The Board of Education and County Executive Janet Owens had budgeted a 6 percent pay increase for executive-level administrators. Principals, assistant principals and other in-school administrators received a 6 percent increase in the 2007 budget, even though the union contract only called for a 3 percent raise. The school board and the union have reopened negotiations.
Teachers in Anne Arundel County also won a 6 percent raise, the first increase in a three-year agreement with the Teachers Association of Anne Arundel County to make teacher salaries more competitive with neighboring jurisdictions.
Dennis Hirsch, director of the school district office of budget, said the district “from time to time” has “some problems” filling vacancies at the executive level, and said it was hard to compare executive salaries with other jurisdictions.
“Sometimes the whole salary schedule is different,” Hirsch said.
The district has filled some of its recent vacancies with internal hires or promotions, but has struggled to fill some positions, including director of school facilities.
