Boone County school board members are set to reconsider the pay raises they promised their county superintendent earlier this month, just as individual employees were learning if they'd be affected by the school system's roughly 80 planned position cuts.
Board President Mark Sumpter said he and Superintendent John Hudson came to a mutual decision in the past several days to put an item on Tuesday's board meeting agenda that would still grant Hudson a four-year contract extension but keep his salary the same throughout that time. On Feb. 2, the board voted unanimously to grant Hudson, who makes about $131,100 annually, a four-year contract extension with no pay increase for next school year but annual 3 percent pay increases for the three following years.
The raises would equal roughly $4,000 for each of those three years, meaning he'd be making around an extra $12,000 by the final year of his new contract. Hudson said he'd requested an extension of his current contract, which also had 3 percent annual raises.
The superintendent, who said the possible contract change isn't being forced upon him, said he expects the board will vote Tuesday to change course and keep his pay the same. He said the board also is scheduled to vote on his proposed position cuts later next week.
Hudson said he thinks board members are skeptical of economic recovery, given declining student enrollment and lower tax collections. In previously explaining the need for the job cuts and the now-approved closure of three of the county's 10 elementary schools at the end of this school year, he pointed out that Boone's second-month enrollment this school year was 4,331 - down 268 from two years ago, and still dropping. The state school aid funding formula largely allocates money to school systems based on the number of students, so funding automatically declines when enrollment does.
Also, Bonita Jarrell, chief tax deputy in the Boone County Sheriff's Office, has said 2015 property tax collections for Boone schools from July 15 to Sept. 30 were about $5.7 million, compared to $10.3 million for the same period last year. She said July 15 is the county's start of tax collections, and Oct. 1 is when those who haven't paid face penalties. She said the downturn is because of coal company bankruptcies and the companies moving their equipment, which provides personal property taxes, out of the county.
"I would be in complete agreement," Hudson said of the board's possible vote to keep his pay the same. "Again, our board has always demonstrated that they've worked to provide for the best interest of our students and employees, and I want to do that, as well."
Sumpter said not giving the raises wouldn't save much money, and that public perception wasn't his main concern, but rather the perception of school employees.
"It's just a terrible situation," he said of the layoffs. "So many families being affected."
Sumpter did say there's much misinformation about Hudson's compensation being spread online via social media and noted that, despite a rumor, the superintendent receives no funding allowance for clothes. While declining to state specifics, he also said there's a "strong possibility" that other Boone central office administrator positions won't be filled if people vacate them.
The Tuesday school board meeting is at 6 p.m. at the Boone County Schools Operations Complex, 5367 Daniel Boone Parkway, in Foster.
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.