It didn’t seem to come as an easy decision.
But one year after giving a 2% district-wide raise, and two years after giving 1%, the Trigg County Board of Education opted to stand firm on the current salary scale Thursday night — citing a significant drop in average daily attendance, the state’s throttling of SEEK funding per child and a tight budget unrelated to campus construction as key reasons for the decision.
District Finance Officer Holly Greene and District Lawyer Jack Lackey Jr. each commiserated that the 4% compensating rate wasn’t nearly enough to make up differences in budget margins.
In many respects, Greene’s presentation directly tied into points made by Direct of Student Services and Personnel James Mangels.
He iterated that in the last school year alone, 30 truancy petitions drafted and filed by his office were not served to families by proper local authorities — a process that requires some combination of the Trigg County Sheriff’s Office, the Trigg County Attorney’s Office and Trigg County District Court.
As such, the student attendance policy is also changing, upgrading from the framework of six parent notes for absences, six parent notes for tardies and 10 doctor’s notes.
A lack of district-wide raises this year, however, didn’t damper a need for targeted ones.
In this salary schedule, Greene and the board agreed it was time for a major increase in substitute classified employees, who will now jump from starting at $8.59 per hour to $10.25 per hour. Greene said this includes bus monitors, custodians and the like serving on call.
Trigg Tots, meanwhile, will also see its starting wages bumped to $10.25 per hour. It’s a raise, Greene noted, that would be paid through federal ESSER funds, and comes despite the fact that its tuition has increased but once in the last seven years.
One job of note added to the 2023-24 pay calendar: a CTE principal, which will take on the duties needed in the renovated vocational school. It’s pay will be a $3,750 stipend alongside their 53 days.
Greene further noted that an increase of employee insurance, coupled with a $125,000-to-$180,000 cost of a 1-to-2% raise, seemed unbearable. Board member Charlene Sheehan shared frustration.
Trigg County’s budget goes into effect July 1.
In other school news:
— Mangels also relayed to the board that language has been added to the employee handbook regarding employee sick leave, following issues with employee absences. The new clause indicates that anyone taking a sick day either prior or before a long, extended vacation must provide a medical statement that identifies a sickness, or the employee’s provision of care for someone in their immediate family.
Furthermore, once 10 sick days have been exhausted in a school year, Mangels noted employees must have a medical note for each following sick day. This was previously a soft, in-kind policy that is now printed for enforcement.
— Director of Operations Matt Ladd noted that while things are running smooth at all construction sites, it is likely that a full move-in for the vocation school will now come closer to Christmas Break 2023, rather than the Fall Break. He said a change in project managers, alongside some slower and back up deliveries, could play a factor in this change.
— Board members did approve the 2023-24 insurance plan through Lake Barkley Insurance. Adam Murphy said total insurance value increased from $130 million to $151 million, and while workers compensation saw a significant decrease in cost, all-in premiums experienced a 12% spike. Property values remain in “lock step” with Kentucky Department of Education recommendations, but the cost of construction per square foot, the state’s recent battle with natural disasters and other mitigating factors have caused state-wide increases.
