DPS Considering New Salary Administration Policy

Last year’s fiasco with classified worker pay may have been – if not entirely avoided, perhaps caught sooner – if members of the Durham Public Schools Board of Education had been called on to vote on the newly implemented pay schedules.

At this week’s board meeting on Thursday, members will consider a policy to ensure that happens from now on.

The proposed policy, developed by freelance comptroller Kerry Crutchfield, assigns specific responsibilities to different roles within the DPS hierarchy.

For example, under the policy, the Board of Education would:

• Collaborate with elected local and state officials to advocate for the district’s needs.
• Approve and adopt policy that guides compensation administration.
• Approve annual salary schedules.
• Approve annual budgets reflecting adopted salary schedules.
• Approve employment contracts.

The superintendent, on the other hand, would:

• Develop and present initial budget changes and final budget reconciliations.
• Recommend salary schedules.
• Recommend employment contracts.
• Provide oversight for employee compensation.
• Plan for competitive compensation through budget development and implementation of final budget.
• Implement a salary review process.

Human resources workers would:

• Provide expert guidance and support.
• Conduct analysis and provide advice on proposed pay changes, job descriptions, pay schedules, policies, and compensation practices.
• Review compensation actions to identify significant variations in practices within the district.
• Keep the board and DPS management informed.
• Facilitate process for collaborative interdepartmental salary review and recommendation.
• Collaborate with financial services.

Financial services employees would:

• Collaborate with human resources to verify funding for compensation administration.
• Provide recommendations to the superintendent for budget development.

District managers and supervisors would:

• Comply with board policies and supervise and manage as outlined in official job descriptions.
• Develop and implement compensation decisions consistent with district compensation philosophy as outlined in policy and within available budget.
• Collaborate with human resources.

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