SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES SALARY INCREASES

Salary increases approved by the Cape Girardeau Board of Education Monday night will mean more money for staff but at the cost of reductions in the district's reserve balances.

Schools Superintendent Dr. Dan Steska said the decision was the right one to make, although "quite frankly I'm concerned." Board members have discussed the need for a tax- levy increase to help cover increased operating costs, including salaries, for better than a year.

"I'm concerned about this because it can't continue long term, but we've made no secret of that," said Steska. "We are trying to do so many things with a lower-than-average local tax rate, and that concerns me."

Steska said it is imperative the district do something to make salaries more competitive. He said the need was best displayed in the district's 41 percent turnover in faculty over the past three years and the continual need to replace janitors, maintenance workers and secretaries who leave for better pay.

"This year it looks like we're going to have a 12-to-15 percent turnover, but our goal would be not more than 10 percent," said Steska.

School board members approved an estimated increase of 4.39 percent to the teachers' salary schedule next year and an increase of 5.88 percent to classified staff schedules. For the first time a schedule also was created for administrative salaries, which will increase about 3.74 percent next year.

The administrative schedule does not include Steska's three-year contract, which was negotiated separately when he was hired in 1999.

Salary schedules often are used in school districts to determine salary levels. Additional experience or professional development levels can result in movement on the salary schedules, tables on which eligible staff members are allowed to move horizontally and vertically to an increased salary level.

Salaries are expected to increase by about $758,893 next year after the district's 385 staff members are credited for their years of experience and professional development. No other raises are planned.

Salaries annually account for about 70 percent of the district's budget.

The salary increases come just two years after Cape Girardeau schools staff were frozen on the salary schedule as part of a spending freeze enacted to stop a deficit-spending trend in the district. Last year staff members were awarded the salary schedule increases they would have earned in 1998 and 1999, but no other salary increases were provided.

Steska said despite research by the Missouri National Education Association that ranked Cape Girardeau teachers' salaries among the top 20 percent in the state, salaries are still lower than most state averages. For example, the district's starting salary last year was $21,005, about $4,000 less than the state average and the lowest for districts of similar enrollments.

Beginning teachers will earn $21,430 on the new salary schedule.

Steska said he does not want the district's successful building campaign to weaken its ability to hire and retain quality staff. The district has completed renovations at nearly every school, including projects at Franklin and Central High School that are under way. In addition, work continues on a new vocational school, and designs are nearing completion for a new high school.

"My concerns are still the low base pay for our staff and the overall average pay compared to area schools and the Missouri average salary," Steska said. "We don't want the building program to undermine our ability to pay our staff, but right now we have a delicate balance."