CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board on Tuesday night voted to increase the salary of Director Millard House by $60,000, bringing his annual pay up to $230,000.
The school system also presented a plan to increase the salaries of all employees by 2%, and to provide a one-time, additional bonus equal to that increase for all employees who have remained with the district from Oct. 1, 2020, through Feb. 1.
New director’s contract
House has served as director of schools, or superintendent, for CMCSS since 2017. His most recent contract was not set to expire until June 30, 2023, but the School Board reserves the right to review the contract annually.
Last year, House volunteered to forgo his annual review as efforts were underway to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to the new salary of $230,000, which is an increase of close to 40%, an additional $700 per month will go towards House’s retirement annuity fund. The new contract was also extended by a year until June 30, 2024.
House also receives a $900 per month personal vehicle allowance for in-county travel.
Board debate
Before voting on House’s new contract, there was some discussion among board members about where CMCSS stands in superintendent pay compared to other, similarly sized school districts.
“I would just like to expend the 40%. If we had (reviewed House’s contract) last year, it wouldn’t have been that large of an amount,” said Charlie Patterson of District 6.
CMCSS has more than 36,000 students and 42 schools.
The average base salary for superintendents in Tennessee for school districts with more 25,000 students is $231,906. The median base salary is $240,000, according to data from the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents.
Kent Griffy was the only school board member in disagreement with the contract.
“I would just like to point out before the vote is taken that I am in support of extending the director’s contract, but I cannot support the contract as written. Before I saw it, I explained to the director that I don’t like extended term renewals. This is close to a 40% pay increase from what he is making now,” Griffy said.
“Williamson County (school system), who has 1,400 more students, pays their director $100,000 more annually than Montgomery County does. We’re by no means trying to keep up with the Joneses, but we have to offer a competitive salary to obtain and retain quality,” said Margaret Pace of District 2.
“When you think of (House’s) last three years with our county, with CMCSS, I think of the words ‘professional’ and ‘diplomatic,’ ‘proactive.’ He was one of the first in the state to take action when the pandemic was starting, and received a lot of criticism for that initially,” Pace continued.
The board voted 6-1 in favor of the new contract.
All other CMCSS employees
The state has taken action to give teachers and increase in pay, and CMCSS is looking to expand that pay to all its employees.
Chief Financial Officer Marcia Demorest discussed the education funding that was approved through a special session in the Tennessee State Legislature on Jan. 22.
This allocation provides a 2% increase in pay for all teachers, school nurses, and other certified, licensed instructional positions from January 2021, or half of the school year.
In the face of an uncertain pandemic, Demorest said the school system was unable to include any increases in salary for school employees in last year’s budget as it normally would have, and there was no additional funding from the state’s Basic Education Program, or BEP, to do so.
As a result of the special session, CMCSS was given $1.5 million by the state for the pay raises for licensed employees.
“But we were also committed to doing something for all of our employees, so we have also gone in and calculated a 2% increase for a half a year for all other staff, and that comes out to approximately $658,000. When I talk about these, (the increases come) from across all funds, the BEP, transportation, child nutrition,” Demorest said.
Also, in addition to the half-year 2% pay increase, the district wants to add a bonus for employees equal to that amount for all who have remained employed by the district from Oct. 1, 2020, through Feb. 1. These bonuses are also additional, will be one-time allocations, and will not affect the current salary schedule.
Around March, the district plans to present its 2021-22 budget to the school board with the salary increases and cost-of-living adjustments. The district will then present the budget to the County Commission in April. If approved by both, the bonuses should go on the May payroll in one lump sum.
The raises are contingent on many factors, including the passing of state-level BEP “hold harmless” legislation, which would ensure BEP funds are not affected by the pandemic. House has signed onto this legislation, along with five other superintendents in Tennessee.
“We feel it’s important our legislature recognizes that, and especially these six school systems are growing, vibrant school systems, that expect to actually have more students in their school system, so it’s important that our budgets are held harmless, so this is just a statement that we will start shopping it with our folks in the legislature,” House said Tuesday evening at the board meeting.
The superintendents had a Zoom meeting with Rep. Mark Green on Tuesday to talk about the legislation.