School district administrators receive raises in Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake School District Superintendent Michelle Price will receive a 19 percent raise for the 2013-14 school year, bringing her annual salary to $162,000.

It is after the Moses Lake School Board approved raises for district administrators at its last meeting. Business and operations manager Mark Johnson, secondary education director Dave Balcom and elementary education director Linda McKay also received raises.

Johnson, McKay and Balcom each will be paid $126,667 for the 2013-14 school year. Price said board members used districts of similar size, 5,000 to 8,000 students, when setting administrative salaries. The schools used for comparison included Wenatchee, Eastmont and Sunnyside.

When they did the comparisons Price's salary, $136,000 for 2012-13, came out at the bottom end, she said. The raise puts her in the middle, she said.

The district is in negotiations with teachers for a new master agreement, Price said. While the district does use the salary schedule established by the state, negotiations are continuing on issues including class size, professional development, work hours and extra compensation.

There were some discussions in June, Price said, but not much could happen until the Washington Legislature approved a state budget, which didn't happen until late June. "We hope to get that (teacher negotiations) resolved in early August," she said.

District officials use schools in the Big 9 Athletic Conference as the comparison when determining teacher compensation, she said.

The contract with classroom aides and other support staff (called classified staff) is in its second year, and both sides agreed to negotiate wages, Price said. Those negotiations also had to wait on a state budget, she said, but are expected to resume in early August. The local job market, and local school districts, are used as the comparison in classified negotiations, she said.

If no agreement is reached by the time school starts, the existing contract would stay in effect until a new one is approved, Price said.

Building principals and other in-building administrators are paid under a different contract, and that agreement is beginning its second year. Nothing in that agreement is open for negotiation this year, Price said.