By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Hays USD 489 is using a wage study conducted by Fort Hays State University to target wage increases for classified staff.

FHSU did two studies for the district three years ago that compared wages for custodians and classified staff at the district to similar school districts in the state, the university and the private sector.

Wages have lagged behind for years, according to Tracy Kaiser, USD 489 executive director of finance, because a lack of state funding.

“People who have been here for a great long time, we are not going to be able to get those people to where they need to be,” she said.

Kaiser said the district is going to have to take it a step at a time.

“We are trying to do a partial amount this year, but there is no way we can catch all those people up nor will we ever be able to probably,” she continued.

Some of these positions studied included secretaries, accounting staff, food service staff, bus drivers and IT staff.

“It was no surprise what we needed to do,” Kaiser said. “We didn’t know how far behind we were, and this helped us find what areas we needed to target the most.”

The district will see an increase of $1.9 million in state funding for 2017-18 school year. However, due to the loss of other funds, the district estimates it will have about a $1.4 million net increase in funds compared to 2016-17.

Superintendent John Thissen said he saw the increase in state funding as replacement of funds that had been lacking for years.

“We do not view this as new money,” he said. “For us, this is filling holes that have been created the last few years because of salary freezes and cuts.”

School budgets are personnel heavy. About 80 percent of USD 489’s budget is wages and benefits.

District officials would like to dedicate $743,275 for wage increases for teachers and staff this year.

The district is currently in negotiations with the teachers union and custodial union on their contracts, but officials would like to use some of the increase in state funds to address classified staff wages, as well.

Thissen said since the two studies were done three years ago, the district has made some progress in bringing up wages for the custodial staff. However, until this year, no money has been available to address wages for the classified staff.

Low wages have resulted in increased turnover within the district, Thissen said, and this turnover results in instability.

Staff has to dedicate time to training new employees, employees who work directly with children have to have closer observation when they begin new positions, and the climate and culture of schools are affected when new people are hired, Thissen said.

For those classified positions that were identified in the study, the range of pay compared to peers was 44 percent to 123 percent.

Of the 21 positions reviewed, 14 of those positions were below their peers.

Thissen made specific note of bus drivers who, at the time of the study, were making about 85 percent of their peers.

“Our bus drivers are very low compared to 20 to 30 miles of here. Very close to here, they are making a lot more money,” he said.

The district has many bus drivers who have been with the district for years, but Thissen said several are nearing retirement.

The report recommended addressing pay for positions that were below 85 percent and above 115 percent.

Kaiser said as they have hired new people to positions that were over their peers, the district has tried to bring the wages more in line with the pay of other districts and the private sector.

The FHSU study also encouraged the district to create a step wage system for classified and custodial staff. A step system assigns pay based on experience and qualifications. Teachers are already paid on a step system.

Thissen said the district would like to establish a step system for classified staff, but it will not happen this year. He said the district hopes to weight some of the raises so those who were receiving less compared to peers would receive slightly higher raises.

However, even with the funding increase from he state, the district will not be able to fully fund all positions at 100 percent of their peers.

Thissen said he hopes the district can slowly increase wages over time.

“I think we are making a good step that way,” he said. “I hope more can be done in the next couple of years.”

Paraprofessionals were not a part of the wage studies. However, keeping paraprofessionals has been especially difficult, Thissen said. Paras work directly with special education students in classrooms. They are paid $9 per hour for 5.5 hours of work per day with no benefits.

Paraprofessionals are paid through the Special Education Cooperative. They are not a part of any of the district’s bargaining units.

Thissen said Raj Sharma, director of special education, has tried to make the positions more desirable. However, the cooperative has been unable to determine a way to increase, pay, hours or benefits over the long term. Funding could only be secured over two years, Thissen said.

The current state funding level will be in place for two years. The current formula is supposed to adjust after that based on consumer price index.

However, the Kansas Supreme Court is currently reviewing the funding formula as a result of a lawsuit brought by several Kansas districts that contend the funding formula is inadequate.

No matter what happens in Topeka, Thissen said district staff is continuing to work to find ways to dedicate more of its budget to people and classrooms.

The district will take a $78.5 million bond issue to voters in November. The architectural firm the district is working with on the bond estimates the district will save $300,000 per year by closing some of its older buildings.

The district replaced all the light bulbs at the high school with LEDs, and Thissen said that could result in as much as a $20,000 in annual savings.

The district is also studying its insurance plan. Insurance costs rose $400,000 this year and $600,000 last year. If the district could cut insurance costs or slow the rate of growth, that is also money that could go back into salaries and other spending that directly affects students.