This from Toni at The Courier-Journal:
For at least three decades, Jefferson County Public Schools had a practice of allowing employees to keep their higher salaries even after being moved to lower-paying jobs — likely costing millions of dollars.
Now, Superintendent Donna Hargens wants it to stop.
After a recent staffing review uncovered the practice — known as red-lining — Hargens notified 11 employees that they were getting a combined pay cut totaling $106,810, effective July 1.
“This is about being fair and consistent and paying an employee for the job that he or she is actually doing,” Hargens said Friday. “We are accountable for every dollar that we spend and for making sure that our spending is directed toward improving student achievement.”
Three of the 11 employees decided to retire, but three others have appealed to the Jefferson County Board of Education, arguing that the district broke its promise to let them keep their same pay after they were moved to lower-paying jobs.
None of the employees who saw their pay cut wanted to talk publicly.
But Warren Shelton, executive director of the Jefferson County Association of School Administrators, whose organization is paying the legal fees for the appeal, said the district needs to honor its commitment.
“This is not about whether red-lining is appropriate,” Shelton said. “It’s about what was promised to these people.”
Cordelia Hardin, the district’s chief financial officer, said it’s hard to say how much money the district has spent on red-lining, since many of those employees are now retired and because the district recently changed its payroll system. But she said the total could “easily be in the millions.”
District officials say they don’t plan to seek reimbursement because the employees weren’t at fault...
1 comment:
Obviously, the path to take here would be to discontinue the practice from this point on but honor what was "promised" to those who were demoted. The savings (if the appeals system happens to rule in your favor) will be eaten up in lawyer fees.
What in the world were they thinking? One must assume that individuals are demoted due to performance or restructuring. Either way, promising folks a salary higher than what they are suppose to be making is something I have never heard of in either the public or private sector. What a screwed up practice. Smart person would fast track themself to their highest point of salary and then find someway to be demoted but not fired. Wonder how many tenured teachers are drawing admininistrator salaries in Louisville?
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