LPSB pay: strong, but inequities for some employees

The Lincoln Parish School District provides competitive compensation for its employees overall, but certain inequities have created disadvantages for support staff, part-time workers and others over time.

Those are some of the findings from a compensation study conducted by LEAN Frog Consulting, a Huntsville, Alabama-based firm the school system hired to evaluate whether its pay is keeping up with competing school systems and private-sector markets.

The data comes as districts across the state continue to battle teacher shortages and struggle to retain employees long-term.

LEAN Frog presented its findings and recommendations to the school board at a special called meeting Thursday.

The board took action to address a few of the shortcomings, but many more will have to wait for a more in-depth organizational review, if members vote to approve such a study at their next meeting Tuesday.

LEAN Frog compared Lincoln Parish’s teacher pay to 10 other school systems, from Monroe down to Zachary, and found that any teacher entering Lincoln Parish would receive a starting pay that’s at least in the top three among those competitors.

“Overall, you’re competing very well against your peers and in the market, when we look at your total compensation,” Lead LEAN Consultant Chasitie White told the board.

Longevity pay

As teachers’ time in the system goes on, though, Lincoln Parish offers smaller increases year over year than some other districts, and many positions here slip down to sixth or seventh place.

Similarly, total compensation for most full-time support staff is above average compared to other districts. But the pay schedules for many of these positions only allow for a salary growth of 10% or less throughout a career, well below the recommended range of 30-50%.

“If you think about over a long period of time, 25 years on the job, and you’re only getting a total of less than 10% change (in pay), that doesn’t seem quite right,” White said.

Support staff are positions without a teaching certification, such as bus drivers, custodians and paraprofessionals.

Subs and custodians

Maintenance staff and substitute teachers are the only groups whose total pay in Lincoln Parish is below average across the board.

Subs have been paid between $10 and $20 less per day than the average competitor, while maintenance staff compensation is so comparatively low that schools have apparently been forced to hire staff that don’t meet the on-paper qualifications of the job.

The board passed new salary schedules for the next school year that boost sub pay, while custodians have not yet been addressed. Part-timers There are also inequities between part-time and full-time staff.

Salaried paras average $17.79 an hour at Lincoln Parish schools, while part-time paras average $15 an hour for the same job. Fulltime employees also receive sales tax-fueled supplementary pay, while part-timers do not.

“Even though ( part- timers have) the same titles, those positions are being paid less an hour,” White said.

A fresh perspective

Moving up, those in leadership positions across the district are not paid based on their job titles, and those titles don’t necessarily indicate what roles and responsibilities they have, LEAN Frog concluded.

“Why have we been doing it this way?” board Vice President Danielle Williams asked at one point during the presentation.

“What you’re following is the way things have always been done,” White said. “A study like this gets you to stop and see all that.”

What’s next

LEAN Frog’s recommendations to eliminate these inequities and structure issues include moving to a title-based pay structure, expanding pay schedules so that employees can see a 30-50% growth throughout their careers, and bringing part-time hourly rates up to the same level as fulltime employees.

Superintendent Ricky Durrett asked LEAN Frog to prepare a proposal to provide a more indepth organizational analysis, to figure out how and how quickly to make these changes.

That’s likely to be presented to the board for approval at Tuesday’s regular July meeting.