Raises for all? Horry County Schools planning pay increases after COVID salary freeze
After forgoing any employee salary increases last year, Horry County’s largest employer is considering giving raises that could add up to more than $25 million.
Horry County Schools commissioned an employee compensation study last year to see how it compared with similar districts and businesses in an effort to help improve employee retention and recruitment.
The study, presented to the school board last June, suggested that bringing the district’s staff salary levels up to industry standards would cost $10-14 million, but the board elected not to implement any pay increases due to the financial uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
That uncertainty also led to the state suspending school districts’ annual staff STEP increases.
But while COVID-19 continues to significantly impact school operations, HCS’ financial situation is becoming more clear, and with money seemingly available for these raises, numerous board members are beginning to advocate for pay increases across the board.
“We said we didn’t need to do this salary study if we weren’t going to follow through,” Chairman Ken Richardson said. “If you’re going to be the best, you’ve got to pay the best.”
Next year’s budget
John Gardner, the district’s chief financial officer, presented the board Monday with a preliminary budget plan for the 2021-22 school year, noting an expected shortfall — meaning expenditures exceed revenue — of about $14.3 million, which would need to be covered by the district’s fund balance.
However, as he explained, the district regularly budgets for the usage of its fund balance without actually spending it, owing to savings primarily from staffing vacancies throughout the year. For example, the district budgeted in 2019-20 to use $18.6 million of fund balance, but the fund balance actually ended up increasing $20 million, Gardner said, noting the fund balance currently stands at $127.7 million.
The preliminary 2021-22 budget includes $4.6 million for STEP increases and $1.2 million to provide 2% raises for employees not eligible for those increases, though board member Neil James suggested looking into doubling those increases to account for last year’s salary freeze.
James questioned whether that move could eat into the costs associated with implementing the compensation study, but Gardner noted that they’d still be in the same position if other school districts provided STEP increases as well.
Employee compensation study
The district paid Management Advisory Group $77,500 to complete the study, which examined more than 6,000 positions and 200 job titles within the district, and how those same positions are compensated in other school districts including Greenville, Charleston and Georgetown, as well as other public agencies including Horry County, City of Myrtle Beach and Santee Cooper.
The group’s recommendations were divided into instructional and non-instructional positions, with an estimated cost of $5.5 million to bring non-instructional staff’s salaries and benefits up to industry standards. There were two options for increasing teachers’ compensation: $4.4 million when compared to all school districts or $8.6 million to compete specifically with Greenville and Charleston school districts, which are the only districts with higher student populations in the state.
HCS teacher salaries currently range from $37,826 to $82,982 based on level of education and years of experience. The first option would increase that range to $38,737-$91.407, while the second would increase it to $39,455-$84,870, according to the study’s final report.
Russell Campbell, senior consultant for Management Advisory Group, told the board last year he would recommend implementing the first option, for a total of about $10 million, because pay alone doesn’t dictate where someone chooses to work, and he understood the difficult financial circumstances caused by the pandemic.
The group’s recommendations also included a plan to implement the increases across a two-year period, though that was under the assumption half the costs would be added during the 2020-21 school year, which wasn’t the case.
Mary Anderson, the district’s chief human resources officer, told the board they are capable of fully implementing the study’s recommendations “if Mr. Gardner can find the funds.”
Increases for subs?
Anderson noted that the study did not consider increases for part-time employees, including substitutes, which multiple board members emphasized needed to be done. Anderson agreed, adding that substitutes are needed now more than ever with employees frequently required to quarantine. Substitute teachers make about $80 per day, and that rate hasn’t increased in a long time, she said.
Daryl Brown, the district’s chief support services officer, also told the board that substitute custodians has been increasingly difficult with all the additional cleaning demands associated with preventing COVID-19 spread.
The plexiglass barriers being installed in all the schools to allow students to return full time have presented a particular challenge, and Brown sent an email to all principals recently advising that each school will need to establish procedures to clean the shields based on needs and availability of staff, noting custodial staffing shortages.
Brown requested funds in next year’s budget totaling about $626,000 to hire 12 additional floating custodians to help address an absentee rate of current custodians that typically ranges from 5-7% daily.
Richardson said one of his primary desires is that increasing salaries in line with the study will improve morale, which has been low during the past year, to the point that employee attendance increases.
“When morale increases, people want to be at work,” he said.
