tasb pay systems review - marblefallsisd.org · recommendations were then made for grouping jobs of...

Pay Systems Review Marble Falls Independent School District

Amy Campbell

Assistant Director

Texas Association of School Boards

HR Services

P.O. Box 400

Austin, TX 78767-0400

(800) 580-7782

http://hrservices.tasb.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 2

II. Methodology ..................................................................................................... 3

III. Summary of Findings a. Issues Summary .......................................................................................... 8 b. Pay Characteristics

i. Teachers .......................................................................................... 8 ii. Other Groups ................................................................................ 10

c. Market Summary i. Teachers ........................................................................................ 11

ii. Exempt .......................................................................................... 12 iii. Non-Exempt .................................................................................. 15

IV. Recommendations .......................................................................................... 19

V. Estimated Cost of Recommendations............................................................. 24

VI. Pay System Management ............................................................................... 25

© 2014 Texas Association of School Boards, Inc. All rights reserved. 1

INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I

Marble Falls Independent School District (MFISD) engaged the HR Services Division of the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) to conduct a comprehensive review of its employee compensation plan. The HR Services Division has been providing compensation consulting and support service to Texas schools for over 30 years. This report presents a summary of the findings and recommendations from this project. The report includes a description of the study process, an explanation of the definitions and general purpose and methodology of pay systems, and a summary of findings and recommendations resulting from this study with supporting data.

Background MFISD has approximately 623 employees which serve an enrollment of more than 4,000 students at seven campuses across the district. Currently, MFISD has four elementary campuses, one middle school campus, one non-traditional high school, and one traditional high school. Marble Falls ISD is located in the Highland Lakes region of the Texas Hill Country and encompasses a large land area (268 square miles), which can present unique transportation and facilities challenges for the district. TASB HR Services has provided various human resources services to MFISD since 2002-03, including salary comparisons and staffing reviews.

Purpose This study was conducted to objectively examine pay equity for employees and to determine if pay practices were internally fair and externally competitive. The primary goals for the project included the following:

• provide an objective assessment of pay based on job value; • develop an affordable salary plan to correct existing pay inequities; and • develop pay system controls for the future.

All employee groups were included in this study, including:

• Administrative/Professional; • Auxiliary; • Clerical/Paraprofessional; and • Teachers (and related instructional staff).


METHODOLOGY CHAPTER II

Project Activities In consultation with the district, a work plan was developed to complete the study. HR Services consultants completed the following work tasks through the course of the review:

• Initial planning and data collection Consultants conferred with district administrators to ensure a clear understanding of the concerns, problems, and objectives for the study. Pay data was collected on personnel employed at the start of the project.

• Assess competitive pay levels for common jobs

The competitive job market group was approved by the district. Market data on competitive pay practices was compiled and compared to district pay practices. Consultants analyzed the data to determine where the district is at risk and identified priorities for pay system improvements.

• Evaluate job assignments and recommend pay classifications

Consultants assessed job requirements against common indicators of skill, effort, and responsibility. Recommendations were then made for grouping jobs of similar value into pay grade levels. Consultants also reviewed the exemption status of jobs for compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

• Build pay range structures

Benchmark jobs were identified in each employee group and used as the basis for market pricing and setting pay ranges. A pay range hierarchy was designed for each employee pay group to provide competitive pay ranges and internal pay system controls.

• Design implementation plan

Pay data of current employees was applied to the new models to assess the cost and impact of implementing the proposed pay structures. The implementation plan was designed to achieve the following:

o provide a general pay increase to employees who are already within the recommended pay range;

o bring all employees up to the recommended minimum pay rates for their position; and o grandfather employees who are already paid above the recommended maximum rates

and slow further advancement until future adjustments to the pay structure recapture their salary.

• Conduct draft review meetings and prepare final report

Consultants met with administrators to review the initial draft of findings and recommendations before preparing the final report. TASB consultants also will review administrative procedures for placement and promotion in the pay system and make recommendations where needed.


Data Sources Data sources for this project were obtained from:

• District employee records, • Peer districts, • Third-party salary surveys of the Austin metro area; and • District administrator interviews.

Market Comparisons The following districts were used as the comparison districts to assess the competitive job market. Comparison districts were selected on the basis of enrollment and location. School district data was obtained from the most recent available surveys conducted by TASB HR Services. Non-school market data for the Austin metro area from multiple third-party sources was incorporated for positions with similar jobs outside of K-12 education.

EXHIBIT 1 – COMPARISON DISTRICTS

# District Enrollment1 Number of Employees1

Marble Falls ISD 4,054 466

1 Burnet CISD 3,265 450

2 Dripping Springs ISD 4,571 567

3 Georgetown ISD 10,337 1,521

4 Johnson City ISD 710 110

5 Kerrville ISD 4,888 709

6 Lake Travis ISD 7,361 931

7 Lampasas ISD 3,361 495

8 Leander ISD2 33,179 4,041

9 Liberty Hill ISD 2,746 367

10 Llano ISD 1,831 294

11 Round Rock ISD2 44,862 5,525

1 Source: 2012-13 TAPR Data 2 Directors and above will be excluded from comparison due to size of district.


Purpose and Objectives of Pay Systems All organizations have common management needs and employee expectations that must be translated into pay practices. An effective pay system should address both the needs of the organization and the expectations of its employees.

Management needs to: • recruit and hire qualified employees, • prevent the loss of good employees, and • control spending by paying the proper amount for job value.

Employees expect to receive: • fair pay for their job responsibilities, • fair pay compared to what other employers pay for the same work, and • annual pay increases for continued service.

Basic Pay System Elements Job Families: A job family includes jobs that share common characteristics and are grouped into a common pay structure. These characteristics include the type of work performed, the competitive job market, potential career paths for employees, and state and federal laws regulating wages and salaries. Separate pay range structures are typically built for each job family.

Pay Grades: Compensable job factors such as skill, effort, and responsibility serve as the basis for assigning jobs to different pay levels to achieve internal pay equity among employees. The greater the degree of skill, effort, and responsibility required by a job, the higher the level of pay. The process of evaluating compensable factors and assigning jobs to different levels of pay is called job evaluation and classification. A job title alone is not adequate to determine proper pay classification for a position; nor is the reliance on the personal characteristics or qualifications of incumbent employees in the position. The actual content of the job itself must be analyzed to assign jobs to proper pay levels for internal equity. Jobs that have similar value and are grouped into the same range of pay are assigned or classified to pay grades.

Job Pricing: While objective job evaluation and classification contributes to internal pay equity, job pricing contributes to external pay equity. Job pricing uses data collected from salary and wage surveys of other employers to determine the external market value of benchmark jobs. This data is used to set pay ranges that are competitive with the external job market. Because jobs have been analyzed and classified into groups of similar value, job pricing does not require a survey match for each unique job.

Job Market: Job markets may be different for different employee groups. By definition, a job market represents the employers that a district typically competes with to attract and retain employees. Professional employees may be recruited from a larger geographic area than paraprofessional or


auxiliary employees. School districts may be the only competitors for instructional positions while other types of businesses may be competitors for business or technology jobs. For this reason, different job markets and survey sources may be used to accurately assess the district's true competitive job market.

Pay Structure: The pay structure itself is the key management tool that provides control over the district's competitive position in the marketplace and internal pay equity among all employees. Designing the pay structure involves setting the proper control points (midpoint, minimum, and maximum rates of pay) for each pay grade and ensuring that appropriate pay differentials between pay grade levels are established.

Issues that must be weighed and balanced in the design of pay structures include: • positioning the district competitively, • impact on current pay practices, • adequate pay differentials for higher levels of job responsibility, • internal consistency and rationality, and • controlled variance within each pay range.

Pay System Implementation and System Administration Current employees may not be paid within the recommended pay ranges initially. Decisions must be made during this transition period of how to deal with employees who are paid outside the pay range for their position. If employees are paid below the minimum rate of their pay range, additional adjustments should be provided to increase their pay to at least the minimum rate of pay. If employees are paid above the maximum of the pay range, they are left outside the range. No employee's pay should be reduced in this event.

Employees advance in pay through pay adjustments tied to budget planning that are determined on an annual basis. These management decisions are based on current economic conditions, including projected district revenues, the cost of living, and market competition.

The midpoint of the range is recommended as the basis for calculating employee increases. This ensures a more equitable distribution of the dollars available for pay increases and moves employees up to the range midpoint (market rate) more quickly. Using the range midpoints instead of current salaries will deliver equal dollars to employees at the same job level and helps the district to control the rate of advancement through the pay range.


Long-Term Salary Administration For any pay plan to meet its intended goals on a long-term basis, it must be updated regularly and administered properly. Salary administration involves four primary activities requiring administrative decisions:

• adjusting pay ranges for job market changes and general economic inflation, • budgeting for annual salary increases for employees, • placing new employees in the system, and • calculating special increases for promotions or other job changes.


SUMMARY OF FINDINGS CHAPTER III

Issues Summary HR Services consultants met with District administrators in November 2013. During these meetings, administrators provided detailed information about their department-specific issues related to compensation and classification.

Some of the overarching issues identified in these administrator interviews included:

• Several interviewees felt that hourly staff pay rates, particularly in the lower pay grades, are low to market.

• Finding affordable housing in Marble Falls may be difficult for many staff members. • There is some concern about internal pay equity; some interviewees feel that long-term district

employees may be paid too close to newer hires with less experience. • The district has difficulty filling teaching jobs that have been hard-to-fill across the state,

including bilingual, secondary math and science, and some special education positions.

Pay Characteristics – Teachers Salary Schedule: The current teacher hiring salary schedule is a 30-step schedule that includes teachers (and related instructional positions), Nurses, Librarians, and Counselors. The range spread of the schedule, or distance from minimum to maximum, is 60 percent. Step differentials range from $267 to $760.

Years of Experience: Teachers on average have 13 years of total experience, which is one year greater than the state average of 12 years of experience. Forty-six percent of the district’s teachers have 10 or fewer years of teaching experience, which is comparable to what can be observed statewide. Approximately one quarter of MFISD’s teachers have more than 20 years of experience, and four percent of teachers have 31 or more years of experience. According to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, the average TRS retiree has 32 years of creditable experience. As such, MFISD should be aware that a growing number of its teachers are approaching typical retirement age, so the district must maintain a competitive position in the market to attract enough quality teachers to replace its retiring teachers.


EXHIBIT 2 – TEACHER EXPERIENCE

Of the 49 teachers hired into the district this year, 31 teachers, or 63 percent of new hires, had three or fewer years of teaching experience at the time of hire. Conversely, seven teachers, or 15 percent of new hires, had 11 or more years of teaching experience at the time of hire. By crafting a teacher pay structure that is competitive beyond just the starting salary, the district can continue to support recruitment of experienced teaching staff.

0 to 5 years 27%

6 to 10 years 19%

11 to 15 years 17%

16 to 20 years 13%

21 to 25 years 13%

26 to 30 years 7%

31+ years 4%


EXHIBIT 3 – NEWLY HIRED TEACHER EXPERIENCE

Pay Characteristics – Other Groups Salary Schedule: The District maintains three midpoint-based structures for all other positions – one each for Administrative/Professional, Clerical-Paraprofessional, and Auxiliary job groups. The Administrative/Professional pay structure includes four total pay grades and is based on annualized salaries. Range spread, or distance between the pay grade minimum and maximum, ranges from 40 to 96 percent. On average, employees in the Administrative/Professional job group have been with the district for seven years and have approximately 16 years of experience.

The Clerical-Paraprofessional job group, which includes both clerical support and instructional support staff, includes five total pay grades. Pay ranges in this job family range from 48 percent wide to 56 percent wide. Employees in the Clerical-Paraprofessional job family have approximately 10 years of experience with the district, on average. The Auxiliary pay structure has six total pay grades that include highly populated jobs such as Bus Driver, Custodian, and Food Service Worker, as well as skilled trades jobs like Electrician and HVAC Mechanic. Pay ranges in this job family are between 50 and 100 percent wide. Auxiliary employees have been with the district for five years, on average.

0 to 3 Years63%

4 to 7 Years12%

8 to 10 Years10%

11 + Years15%

n= 49 teachers


Market Summary – Teachers

Marble Falls ISD is paying below market value at nearly all surveyed points in the range. The district pays furthest below market median at the starting salary (0 years of experience). Salary difference from market decreases as you move through the range, with the district getting closest to surveyed market median values at the 15- and 20-year points in the range.

MFISD HR staff likely use the minimum teacher salary in their efforts to recruit teachers to the district, so setting a competitive advertised starting salary will help bolster the district’s efforts to recruit the best and brightest new teachers. However, like many other school districts across the state, district administrators have said they also want to compete for new hires with previous teaching experience (e.g., 5 to 15 years of prior experience). If the district is seeking to maintain a robust applicant pool in these areas, MFISD needs to continue to improve its pay rates in this area so it can offer competitive and attractive salaries to its “target market.”

EXHIBIT 4 – TEACHER SALARY SCHEDULE COMPARISON

Beginning Salary

5-year Salary

10-year Salary

15-year Salary

20-year Salary

Average Salary

Marble Falls ISD Salary $38,500 $41,895 $45,290 $48,700 $52,500 $47,568

Local Market Median $40,950 $43,500 $46,000 $49,000 $52,000 $47,852

Percent of Market 94% 96% 98% 99% 101% 99%

Dollar Difference ($2,450) ($1,605) ($710) ($300) $500 ($284)

Teacher Incentives: The master’s degree stipend provided by MFISD is above all but one peer district (Lake Travis ISD), and MFISD’s bilingual stipend is even with market median value at $3,000. Only one peer district currently offers secondary math and science stipends, but as the demand for these teachers grow and the applicant pool does not, more districts across the state are adding these stipends to attract and retain qualified staff.

In terms of department chair stipends, MFISD pays even with market median at the high school level and $200 above market median at the middle and elementary levels. While MFISD does not pay Special Education stipends and three peer districts do, this is an incentive that has decreased over the past several years, as more special education certified teachers are available. In the past few years, many districts have reduced these stipends, cut them entirely, or limited the stipends to only those hardest-to-fill special education positions (e.g., behavior classrooms, life skills classrooms, PPCD classrooms). Two of the three peer districts providing this stipend have indicated their stipends are only paid to teachers in certain special education classrooms.


EXHIBIT 5 – TEACHER STIPEND COMPARISON

Stipend Marble Falls ISD Median Stipend Districts Reporting

Master’s Degree $1,200 $500 9 of 10 Special Education - $1,750 4 of 10 Bilingual $3,000 $3,000 5 of 10 Secondary Math - $2,000 1 of 10 Secondary Science - $2,000 1 of 10 Department Chair – HS $1,500 $1,500 8 of 10 Department Chair – MS $1,200 $1,000 7 of 10 Department Chair – Elem $1,000 $800 5 of 10

Market Summary – Exempt

Across all surveyed exempt positions, MFISD is paying even with market median values, on average. When all exempt positions are broken out into central office and campus positions, the difference from market changes slightly. Central office exempt positions are further below market value than campus-based positions, on average. The job titles shown on subsequent pages are benchmark titles used in the TASB salary survey and don’t necessarily align directly with MFISD titles.

Central Office Administrators: On average, central office administrators in Marble Falls are paid four percent above market median values. Three surveyed positions are paid more than 10 percent above market value, and three surveyed positions are paid more than 10 percent below market median. It should be noted that this job group includes only single-incumbent positions, so individual experience, performance, skills, and unique job responsibilities impact market matches more significantly than for multi-incumbent job titles.


EXHIBIT 6 – CENTRAL OFFICE ADMINISTRATORS SALARY COMPARISON

Campus Administrators: On average, campus administrators are two percent below market median values. Furthest below market is Principal – Alternative School (89 percent of market median), and furthest above market is Principal – Middle School (111 percent of market median). All other surveyed positions are within 10 percent of market value.

78%

85%

88%

94%

100%

101%

102%

105%

105%

106%

114%

118%

121%

70% 80% 90% 100% 110% 120% 130%

Director of HR

Director of Transportation

Director of Maintenance

Chief Facilities and Operations Officer

District Testing Coord + Dir of Accountability

Director of Special Education

Business Manager/Director

Chief Financial Officer

Director of Instr Technology

Director of Instr/Curr

Director of Food Service

Director of Athletics/Head FB Coach

Accountant (Degreed)

100% Market


EXHIBIT 7– CAMPUS ADMINISTRATORS SALARY COMPARISON

Campus Professionals: Surveyed positions in the campus non-teaching professional group, including jobs like Counselor, Librarian, Nurse, and Speech-Language Pathologist, range from 11 percent below market to 20 percent above market median. Two of the surveyed positions were compared on a total compensation basis, including salary, stipends, and additional duty days, including Agriculture Science Teacher and High School Band Director. On average across the job group, campus non-teaching professionals are one percent above market value.

89%

90%

95%

97%

98%

103%

111%

80% 85% 90% 95% 100% 105% 110% 115% 120%

Principal - Alternative School

Assistant Principal - HS

Principal - HS

Principal - Elem

Assistant Principal - MS

Assistant Principal - Elem

Principal - MS

100% Market


EXHIBIT 8 – CAMPUS PROFESSIONALS SALARY COMPARISON

Market Summary – Non-Exempt

Across all non-exempt jobs for which survey data exists, the district is paying one percent below market on average. A significant number of position comparisons for this group include regional non-school market data, since they have equivalent positions outside of school districts. Individual jobs range from 31 percent below market median to 37 percent above market median. The job titles shown on subsequent pages are benchmark titles used in the TASB salary survey and don’t necessarily align directly with MFISD titles.

89%

90%

96%

97%

98%

101%

101%

102%

105%

108%

109%

112%

120%

80% 85% 90% 95% 100% 105% 110% 115% 120% 125% 130%

HS Band Director

Agriculture Science Teacher

Athletic Trainer

Licensed Specialist in School Psychology

Counselor - MS

Nurse (RN)

Counselor - HS

Counselor - Elementary

Librarian

Instr Technology Specialist

Speech-Language Pathologist

Diagnostician

Speech-Language Pathology Assistant

100% Market


EXHIBIT 9– CENTRAL OFFICE CLERICAL/PARAPROFESSIONAL SALARY COMPARISON

Clerical/Paraprofessional – Central Office: Central office clerical-paraprofessional positions are approximately four percent above market value, on average. Difference from market in this job group ranges from eight percent below market to 25 percent above market. Since several of these positions are filled by an individual employee, there may be some market differential due to that individual’s experience. However, pay generally should still cluster close to market median.

Clerical/Paraprofessional – Campus: At the campus level, clerical-paraprofessional positions averaged two percent above market value. Classroom teacher aides range from two percent above market for Special Education General/Resource Aides, to 37 percent above market median for general education Classroom Aides. Registrar – High School is the position furthest below market (79 percent of market median value), and all three levels of Campus PEIMS Data Clerks are below surveyed market value.

92%

93%

93%

98%

105%

112%

112%

125%

80% 85% 90% 95% 100% 105% 110% 115% 120% 125% 130%

Receptionist - CO

Secretary to Director

Secretary to Executive/Chief

Computer Technician

Secretary to Superintendent

HR Records Clerk

Payroll Clerk

Accounts Payable Clerk

100% Market


EXHIBIT 10 – CAMPUS CLERICAL/PARAPROFESSIONAL SALARY COMPARISON

Auxiliary: Auxiliary positions in MFISD range from 31 percent below market for Plumber to 17 percent above market for Bus Monitor. Several of the positions that typically have high turnover or are difficult to recruit statewide, including Custodian, Food Service Worker, and Bus Driver, are all paid below market median values. These positions also represent a significant number of district employees (approximately 14 percent of total employees).

79%

82%

92%

94%

99%

100%

102%

105%

107%

111%

117%

137%

70% 80% 90% 100% 110% 120% 130% 140% 150%

Registrar - HS

Campus PEIMS Data Clerk - HS

Campus PEIMS Data Clerk - MS

Campus PEIMS Data Clerk - Elem

Principal Secretary - Elem

Principal Secretary - HS

Sp Ed Aide - Gen/Resource

Sp Ed Aide - Self-Contained

Principal Secretary - MS

Library Aide

Counselor Secretary

Classroom Teacher Aide

100% Market


EXHIBIT 11 – AUXILIARY NON-EXEMPT SALARY COMPARISON

69%

84%

86%

86%

88%

88%

90%

91%

94%

96%

102%

102%

102%

104%

110%

117%

60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 110% 120% 130%

Plumber

Custodial Supervisor

Electrician

Gen Maintenance Worker

HVAC Mechanic

Custodian

Groundskeeper

Maintenance Foreman

Bus Driver

Food Service Worker

Vehicle Mechanic

HS Cafeteria Manager

Elem Cafeteria Manager

Lead Custodian

Transportation Dispatcher

Bus Monitor

100% Market

100% Market


RECOMMENDATIONS CHAPTER IV

Following are a priority listing of recommendations for the MFISD compensation plan. They address the most significant issues in the district’s current compensation pay plan, reflect current budget circumstances, and will enhance efforts in recruitment and retention of staff.

Recommendation 1

Provide all employees within pay ranges a general pay increase to reward and retain the district’s quality staff.

• Anticipated increases in the district’s competitive market for 2013-14 are between 2 and 3

percent of market control points/midpoints.

• For all non-teacher positions, an increase equal to 2.0 percent of proposed midpoints is recommended.

• For all positions on the teacher pay structure, an increase equal to 2.0 percent of market value is recommended.

• Estimated costs for the general pay increase are $491,376, or 2.0 percent increase to the

current salary budget.

Recommendation 2

Consider moving to an open-range teacher pay structure for posting purposes.

• Recent legislation, court rulings, and commissioner decisions have caused districts across the state to review their tools and resources for communicating about teacher pay. By posting a step structure on its web site, MFISD could be obligated to pay step increases in the future, regardless of any caveats or disclaimers included on the posted structure.

• Posting a salary structure that sets pay solely based on years of experience communicates one clear message to current and prospective teachers in the district: “only experience counts.” In reality, the district values far more in the way of instructional leadership, knowledge of instructional methods, and quality of instruction.


• The district should consider posting a pay range on its web site, rather than a step structure,

but Human Resources staff could utilize a placement structure in conjunction with range to help guide salary decisions for new teacher hires.

Recommendation 3

Provide individual adjustments to bring employees to 0.5 percent above the minimum of recommended pay ranges and move employees in identified jobs further into their pay ranges to create market equity.

• While the general pay increase provides a mechanism to move current employees further into the proposed pay ranges, there are some employees for whom the general pay increase is not enough to move them to the minimum of their pay range or to move their pay far enough into the range to help create market equity.

• Any employees whose pay rate after the general pay increase was less than their pay range minimum were moved up to 0.5 percent above the new minimum.

• For employees on midpoint ranges whose pay was less than 90 percent of midpoint/market value, an increase equal to a percentage of their midpoint was provided to help move them further into the pay range.

• For employees on the teacher pay structure, some levels were adjusted to ensure logical progression through the structure and to increase the district’s competitive position beyond the starting teacher salary. Adjustments were needed for teachers with between one and six years of experience.

• Cost for the total adjustments is estimated at $144,420, or 0.6 percent increase to the current salary budget.

Recommendation 4

Consider adding stipends for secondary math and science as needed to gain a competitive recruiting edge.

• While only one peer district currently offers secondary math stipends, more districts are adding these stipends to improve the compensation package they can offer prospective new hires. Districts are not only competing against one another for math and science teachers – they’re competing against the private sector.


• Marble Falls ISD should review data related to recruitment of secondary math and science

teachers (size and quality of applicant pools, days to fill position, number of offers rejected, etc.) and retention of these teachers (turnover rates, etc.) to determine whether secondary math and science stipends are needed to support the district’s recruitment and retention efforts. Given that more districts are adding these stipends and increasing the value of current stipends, the district likely should add the stipends. However, review of current statistics can help further justify addition of the stipends.

• By offering competitive teacher salaries augmented by competitive critical shortage area stipends, MFISD can help ensure robust applicant pools for its hardest to fill jobs.

Recommendation 5

Consider limiting master’s degree stipends for newly hired instructional staff to only those staff with master’s – or other advanced degrees – in their subject or content area.

• Numerous studies have found that teachers who possess graduate degrees are not necessarily more effective in increasing student learning than those with only a bachelor’s degree.

• Some studies have identified a correlation between student growth and teachers who have achieved an advanced degree in their subject area (particularly in secondary science and math).

• By targeting provision of the stipend to new hires that have an advanced degree in their subject area, the district can spend its limited funds in a more strategic manner while still attracting high quality candidates.

• Instructional staff currently receiving a master’s degree stipend for a degree outside of their subject or content area should be grandfathered in; their current pay should not be reduced.


Recommendation 6

The district should consider reviewing its current structure of employee duty days by position and consolidating some calendars.

• The district currently has 22 total employee duty day calendars, ranging from 113 to 250 days.

• While there may be a legitimate reason for most of the duty day calendars, 15 of the 22 duty day calendars have fewer than five employees in them, and nine have only one employee each.

• Maintaining work calendars can be a time-consuming process for Human Resources and Payroll, and employees can be confused about their work start and stop dates. Also, when the district has employees within a single job group on different annual work schedules, confusion and issues with efficiencies can arise.

• The district should review calendars with few incumbents to determine the specific service provision needs and consolidate calendars where appropriate.

Recommendation 7

Continue to review market competitiveness of positions identified as below market and adjust pay as needed in subsequent years.

• The market analyses conducted during the comprehensive pay systems review identified a number of jobs that are currently paid below market value.

• Recommended increases, both in the form of general pay increases and targeted adjustments, improve the market position of these positions. However, improvement may still be required for positions in subsequent years after initial implementation.

• HR staff should continue to review the market competitiveness of benchmark positions, and those positions identified as currently below market value in particular, and recommend targeted adjustments in subsequent years, as needed. A common practice is to carve out a portion of the overall pay increase budget to use for targeted adjustments (e.g., 3.0 percent pay increase budget can be divided between a 2.5 percent general pay increase and 0.5 percent for targeted adjustments).


Recommendation 8

Annually review and update the district compensation plan.

• Using the same market districts, the district should calculate median starting pay and median average pay on an annual basis.

• The Human Resources office should ensure the pay structures are adjusted annually to maintain a competitive position in the local market.


ESTIMATED COST OF RECOMMENDATIONS CHAPTER V

The recommendations proposed in the previous chapter carry a cost to the district, as depicted in the three charts below.

Marble Falls ISD Summary of Cost Estimates for 2014–15

Total Staff

Staff Affected

Cost Increase

Percent of

Current Budget

2013–14 Current Budget

Teachers - $40,000 starting salary 1 2.0% general pay increase ($1,000) 301 301 $301,505 2.1% $14,387,489 2 Schedule adjustments in years 1-6 74 $45,542 0.3% Administrative-Professional 1 2.0% of pay range midpoint increase 63 61 $80,600 2.0% $4,106,841 3 Adjustments to at least pay range minimum 2 $2,129 0.1% 4 Market adjustments to employees 11 $7,582 0.2% Clerical-Paraprofessional 1 2.0% of pay range midpoint increase 110 104 $54,819 2.0% $2,721,100 3 Adjustments to at least pay range minimum 16 $27,308 1.0% 4 Market adjustments to employees 39 $10,303 0.4% Auxiliary 1 2.0% of pay range midpoint increase 145 138 $54,556 2.0% $2,740,770 3 Adjustments to at least pay range minimum 16 $38,949 1.4% 4 Market adjustments to employees 60 $12,990 0.5% Subtotal - General Pay Increase 619 604 $491,481 2.1%

Subtotal - Implementation/Equity Adjustments 218 $144,801 0.6%

Total Cost Estimate $636,282 2.7% $23,956,199 Footnotes: 1 Employees paid above range maximum did not receive a general pay increase, and employees paid near range maximum received a

reduced general pay increase. 2 Additional adjustments were made to the teacher schedule to improve competitiveness for specified years. 3 Additional pay adjustments to move employees to at least the pay range minimum. 4 Additional pay adjustments to move certain employees further into the pay range.


PAY SYSTEM MANAGEMENT CHAPTER VI

The recommendations provided in Chapter IV help ensure a market-competitive and equitable system for MFISD. However, pay systems are dynamic and are impacted by numerous factors. To maintain a competitive and equitable system, the district must work to manage its pay system. Following are recommendations to aid the district in this endeavor:

Adjust Ranges: Regularly adjust salary ranges in response to market changes. This will help the district maintain competitive salary levels over time.

Provide Pay Increases: Provide pay increases based on a percentage of the range midpoint rather than a percentage of individual salaries. This will accelerate advancement to the range midpoint for the lowest paid employees.

Pay At Least Minimum: Ensure that all employees are paid at least the minimum rate of pay.

Pay Within Ranges: Do not advance pay beyond the maximum of the range. Adherence to range limits helps to maintain pay equity between employees and control salary costs.

Follow Procedures: Document and follow consistent administrative procedures that address employee pay actions such as job classifications, promotions, reassignments, and new hire salary placement. Review procedures annually to ensure these are meeting district needs, are consistently applied, and support the district’s strategic goals.


tasb pay systems review - marblefallsisd.org · recommendations were then made for grouping jobs of...

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