In light of financial challenges, the Warren County R-III School Board has voted to freeze all staff salaries for one year in an effort to balance its budget. 

Salary schedules for the upcoming school year were approved by the board during its monthly meeting on Dec. 12.

“Our expenditures should stay flat from 2020-21,” said Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith. “Next year we’ll have a balanced budget and can reschedule. The only way to do that is freeze everybody’s salary.”

This includes the superintendent’s salary.

“The board negotiated my salary for next year,” said Klinginsmith. “Regardless of what happens, my salary remains the same.”

The district will go to voters again in April with Proposition W, a tax increase proposal that would raise staff salaries. It’s an initiative directly connected to R-III’s goal of attracting and retaining highly-qualified staff.

“To give everybody in the district a raise, we would have to increase our revenue, and that’s what we’re trying to do through Prop W,” said Klinginsmith. 

The same proposition was rejected by voters during the August 2019 election, and this time the district is determined to be more transparent and make certain all questions are answered. 

“The difference between April and August is we’ve been able to negotiate and tell everybody exactly where the money would go,” said Klinginsmith.

During the Dec. 12 meeting, he outlined in detail the distribution plan for the funds that Prop W would create. The larger percentage would go toward hourly staff, followed by teachers. 

“We’ve got to increase the wages of the hourly staff to hopefully attract top candidates for those jobs,” said Klinginsmith. “We struggle to even hire in those positions, because the wages are too low. These positions are critical for us to run the district, but last year we even had to look at outsourcing them.”

Klinginsmith also presented a graph depicting how Prop W would play out on a career salary schedule. Base pay would not be impacted, but a significant increase would be experienced in the later steps on the salary schedule, also rewarding those with higher eduction. 

“We don’t really have an issue of hiring teachers,” said Klinginsmith. “Our issue is in retaining. After five years or so, they’re looking to opportunities in the east.”

This is why R-III chose to focus on the later steps on the schedule, since that where the greatest discrepancy between it and other districts exists. 

For those who are not a teacher or hourly employee, Prop W would result in a 1.5-percent increase to base and a step up on the salary schedule.