Superintendent Disputes FJN Story

By Gordon HopkinsSchool salaries were once again a topic at a meeting of the Fairbury Public Schools Board of Education the evening of Monday, February 14. It was during that meeting FPS Superintendent Stephen Grizzle raised objections to a story that appeared in FJN on February 2.Concerns have been raised by some members of the community, including one FPS board member, about the disparity between the pay of teachers and that of the superintendent. Grizzle’s salary for the 2020-2021 school year was $149,675, according to the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) Salary Report. This year, Grizzle will be receiving a raise of four percent. The superintendent receives a two-year contract, which is then renewed every year. The increase was approved at a meeting of the Fairbury Public Schools Board of Education on Monday, January 10, 2022. The ArrayThe differences in population, environment and other factors makes comparison of all districts in Nebraska difficult. The conditions that impact school districts in Omaha, for example, are very different than those impacting Jefferson County. Instead, the Office of Data, Research and Evaluation for the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) has identified similar school districts based on a number of criteria, including number of students enrolled, attendance rate, population density, land area and various demographics. Other schools in the array are Centennial, Fillmore, Freeman, Johnson County Central, Malcolm, Milford, Palmyra, Seward, South Central Unified, Syracuse-Dunbar, Tri County, Wilber-Clatonia and York.Grizzle said, “When you do a comparability study, they take what they call an array of schools that we are going to be compared by. You don’t cherry pick schools, you don’t say we want to be compared with this one, but we don’t want to be compared with that one.”Grizzle is fifth of the 14 schools in FPS’s array for superintendent salaries.At that same meeting, the school board approved a $750 negotiated raise of the teacher base salary, accepted by teachers. According to data from the Nebraska State Education Association (NSEA), FJN teacher base salary ranks 11th out of 14 schools in the same array. The salaries used in FJN’s story were for the 2020-2021 school year and do not include the most recent raises.The Superintendent’s Objections While Grizzle acknowledged the facts of the story are correct, he said at the meeting, “That last month’s board meeting there were questions about comparability. Where do we stand on things? And then last week, we had the article in the newspaper talking about the disparity between superintendent salary and teacher salary. The reason why I bring this up because I feel like the article further kind of muddied the waters a little bit on teacher pay. Me, when I read the article, it really seems like the article was based on a very simplistic notion that the base salary for teachers is the basis for comparison.”Grizzle added, “And also comparing myself, which I’m a 30 year educator and a 20 year administrator, to a first year teacher, I don’t really think that’s a fair comparison as well.” According to Grizzle, salary negotiations take into account not just the base pay but the number of contract days, schedule type and the cost and type of health insurance, “Our current package is $6.8 million. There’s two components in that total package. There’s the salary cost, which takes into account the base salary and our salary schedule and the benefit cost. So our salary cost is about $5.5 million and the benefit costs about $1.3 (million).”So while the teacher’s base pay may be lower in the array, Grizzle insists the total amount paid out in salary and benefits is actually in the mid-range.While FJN used base salary to determine the ranking of FPS teacher pay compared to other schools, it should be noted that other school districts also offer health insurance and other benefits. Grizzle pointed out in his presentation, “CIR (Commission on Industrial Relations) would require a district’s Total Package to be comparable to the schools in the array.”Grizzle said, “There are districts in our array that pay cash instead of paper insurance, a flat fee.” The superintendent of a district also receives benefits over and above their base salary. The only school board member to vote against Grizzle’s raise was Jonathan Winter, who told FJN, “Mr. Grizzle is fifth of the 14 schools in our array. Taking into account insurance, salary, and other fringe benefits, Mr. Grizzle is third of the 14 school array. Once again, not at or relatively close to midpoint. All of the data that is referenced is from the 2021-2022 contracts because the 2022- 2023 are not currently available.” Ways Teachers Can Increase PayOne way for teachers to increase their pay is through additional education. The base pay is $36,675. A teacher receives an additional five percent for every nine hours of education credits.Another way is by experience. Each year a teacher remains with a district, that teacher gets a four percent increase in salary. “So even if we don’t increase the base,” said Grizzle. “There’s a four percent increase in salary.”According to Grizzle’s figures, five teachers make below $40,000 a year; 55 teachers, (69 percent), make over $50,000.00; 25 make between $70,000 and $80,000; and three make over $80,000.00.

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