JACKSON — Jackson Public Schools is looking at salary increases for non-teaching positions, from food staff to bus drivers, in effort to be fair to employees.
A study done by John W. Jordan, a senior consultant with Core Learning LLC, aims to create two fair-pay scales for district employees and eliminate current pay scales.
The Clarion-Ledger reports Jordan presented the study prior to the regular board meeting Tuesday night.
The three-phase process addresses compensation issues for close to 2,000 non-teaching positions, about 280 administrative support personnel and other classified and teaching positions.
“This recommendation also includes … the consolidation or the collapsing of the many job titles we have in the classified ranks into a more manageable number of job titles for salary classification purposes,” Jordan said.
Jackson Public Schools employs approximately 4,500 employees, and fringe benefits make up 30 percent of the district’s expenses.
The study suggests for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, upon school board approval, compensation for approximately 1,972 non-teaching positions will increase Jan. 1.
In one proposed phase, food service staff making less than $8.25 per hour will increase to $8.25, costing roughly $82,000 that will be paid with federal funds. Employees making above $8.25 will be moved onto the new pay scale yet to be determined by the district, Jordan said.
Then, an internal job audit, at no cost to the district, will ensure an employee’s job classification is not misplaced on the new pay scale, the study recommended.
