Understanding Personnel Salaries in District Budgets

I interviewed the Director of Finance and the Superintendent of Orangefield ISD to gain their insight on the issue of personnel salaries.  Both stated that our personnel budget accounts for 73% of our total budget.  We are striving to reach the 80% mark, which is the percentage in which many school districts operate.  This year, our budget was cut in almost all areas.  Because of the low percentage earmarked for personnel, this budget was not cut.  If our personnel budget was closer to 90%, there would have been very few places to cut besides personnel.

The positive impact of raising the salaries of all personnel by 5% would be that morale would increase.  The negative impact would be that the money would have to be taken from another area that has already been cut.  This would cause stakeholders to complain that funds aren’t going to educate the students as they are supposed to.  Also,  the employees at the upper end of the pay scale would receive a larger amount, while support staff who get paid a lower salary would not receive as much.  To keep from causing an imbalance between the staff, OISD pays longevity stipends in December of each year.  This stipend rewards service to the district and is not based on a percentage of a staff member’s salary. For example, a custodian or food service employee who has been with the district for 10 years receives the same amount of money as an administrator who has been with the district for 10 years.