Friday, June 8, 2012

School board to consider admin raises

Trustees to vote on proposed $74.7 million budget

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By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

The Blaine County School District board of trustees will consider approving pay raises for district administrators and other non-teaching staff at its next public meeting on Tuesday, June 12.

Consideration of the pay raises is listed as part of the district's annual budget hearing, at which time the board will listen to public comment and consider approving a $74.7 million budget for the 2012-13 school year.

The hearing is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the district office at 118 W. Bullion St. in Hailey. The hearing will be followed by the board's regular June meeting.

A complete meeting agenda is available at the district website at www.blaineschools.org.

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Administration raises

Approval of raises for administrators and non-teaching staff follows approval of a new contract in May between the district and the Blaine County Education Association, often referred to as the teachers union.

The union negotiated a 2 percent base salary increase for teachers for the 2012-13 school year, with 1 percent to be a permanent salary increase and the other 1 percent to be a one-time bonus payable in December.

Past practice in the district has been to automatically apply teacher base salary percentage increases to all district staff, without a separate board vote. The process is being handled differently this year, with board approval required.

Five administrators who represented the district in contract negotiations with the teachers union will benefit financially if the board approves the raises. A sixth member of the district negotiating team, board Chair Steve Guthrie, serves without pay.

Involved in negotiations were district Superintendent Lonnie Barber, Assistant Superintendent John Blackman, Business Manager Mike Chatterton, Wood River High School Principal Pete Jurovich and Wood River Middle School Principal Fritz Peters.

According to information provided earlier by the school district, Barber's current annual salary is $158,000. Blackman is now earning $120,000, Chatterton $110,000, Jurovich $105,000 and Peters $106,300.

Other top 10 administrative wage earners are Director of Technology Jerry Hutchins at $110,000, Carey School Principal John Peck at $106,400, Director of Student Services Debi Gutknecht at $105,000, Director of Curriculum Patricia McLean at $103,000 and Director of Buildings and Grounds Howard Royal at $103,000.

Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com

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