Hoover school support employees plead with school board for pay raises

For the second month in a row, school secretaries, custodians, child nutrition workers and other classified employees for Hoover City Schools filled the school board meeting room tonight, eager to hear about proposed raises.

School board President Craig Kelley had said last month he hoped the board could consider raises for classified employees in October or November, but board members still were not ready to vote on the issue tonight.

A school system committee recommended raises for classified employees because the school district has been losing employees to other systems that pay better, Chief Financial Officer Tina Hancock said.

The 2019 budget passed by the school board on Sept. 11 included $1.43 million to cover proposed salary and benefit increases for support personnel, such as nutrition workers, custodians, secretaries, bookkeepers, registrars, bus drivers and maintenance workers.

The federal government would pick up the $407,000 tab for nutrition workers, but the other $1.13 million would have to come from the general fund, Hancock said.

A particular problem has been that employees who stay with Hoover for more than 10 years are not currently eligible for an annual raise unless the state Legislature approves a raise, Hancock said. Therefore, Hoover is losing experienced employees who see they can make more money elsewhere, she said.

In the last school year, Hoover City Schools lost 20 of their 98 custodians, which is a 21 percent turnover rate, Superintendent Kathy Murphy said. The system also lost 19 percent of its child nutrition workers, 17 percent of its bookkeepers, 15 percent of its transportation employees, 11 percent of operations employees and eight percent of its secretaries, she said.

Carol Steinert, a bookkeeper in the athletic office at Hoover High School who has been with the school system since 1994, said she has been at the top of the salary schedule for bookkeepers for 13 years and, with increases in the cost of benefits, is now earning less than she did 10 years ago.

“Once you get to the top of the steps, you’re stuck,” she said.

Many classified employees are working two or three jobs for the same reason, and morale is very low, she said. She plans to retire in March, so the increase won’t mean a lot for her, but it’s important to a lot of people, and she hopes the school board will approve the proposed raises in November, she said.

Wayne Smith, the school district’s coordinator of student services, thanked the school board for addressing an issue that has been ignored since 1988.

“They are some of the most dedicated and wonderful employees that we have in Hoover City Schools,” Smith said.

It’s devastating to administrators to lose experienced and trusted employees who keep the schools functioning, he said. “We cannot survive without them.”

The salary committee looked at pay in the Alabaster, Jefferson County, Homewood, Huntsville, Pelham, Shelby County, Trussville, Tuscaloosa and Vestavia Hills school districts for comparison and is making recommendations that should put Hoover in the middle of those districts, Hancock said.

Superintendent Kathy Murphy and several board members said they still have questions about the proposal, but Murphy said employees should not see that as a negative.

“Questions do not mean we don’t support you,” the superintendent said. “Questions just mean we need clarification.”

School board member Amy Mudano said the proposal regarding raises was very complicated because it involved numerous changes, including increases in base salaries to make Hoover more competitive and the addition of more steps in the pay scale to provide incentive for employees to stay beyond 10 years.

The big question is whether the school system can afford the raises and sustain them over the long term, Murphy has said.

A 4 percent raise passed by the state Legislature for all school employees in fiscal year 2016 cost the school district $2.88 million more than the state funded because Hoover pays its employees more than the state salary schedule, she said. Similarly, a 2.5 percent state raise in fiscal year 2019 cost $1.5 million more than the state funded.

There is talk that the Legislature could approve another pay raise for school employees for fiscal year 2020, Murphy said.

But state raises do nothing to close the gap between what Hoover and other systems pay classified employees, she said.

Other things the school board must consider are that salaries and benefits to staff the new Riverchase Career Connection Center are expected to cost about $500,000, and other new central office positions recently created should cost $272,356, Murphy said.

The school board also must keep in mind upcoming increases in debt payments and capital needs, such as 16 to 18 more classrooms at Berry Middle School that are expected to cost $7.5 million, and the demolition of some old buildings at Bluff Park Elementary School and construction of new classrooms that could cost $5 million, she said.

Other schools such as Riverchase and Gwin elementary schools and Simmons Middle School are on a “watch” list for potential classroom additions. School officials also are watching capacity at Hoover High School, which could spur another addition there or a third high school, she said. Also, there is a push in the community for a fine arts center that could be a school system project, a city project or a collaborative effort if it comes about, she said.

The school board needs to establish priorities, she said. But she again cautioned that bringing up brick and mortar needs is not meant to downplay the importance of school employees.

“You are our priority,” Murphy told the school employees present at a work session prior to tonight’s meeting. “I hope there is no misunderstanding that you are a priority to your superintendent.”

However, Murphy said it’s incumbent upon her and the school board to look at the big picture and consider all factors that affect the school system’s finances.

School board Vice President Deanna Bamman echoed Murphy’s comments about employees being a priority.

“Retaining and attracting people is a conversation that we need to have on an ongoing basis,” Bamman said. “We can have great facilities. We can have great programs, but it’s the people who are in those facilities and running those programs that mean the most.”

School board President Craig Kelley said any time the school board spends money, it has to be scrutinized, and this is too important to rush into a decision. He hopes the board will be ready to vote on the issue at its Nov. 13 meeting, he said.