The Baldwin County Public Schools Board of Education voted in June 2014 to spend more than $4 million on employee pay raises and new hires, a decision that passed on a 6 to 1 vote during a board meeting in Bay Minette.
Of the total, roughly $1 million was set aside for a 1 percent across-the-board pay raise for the district’s approximately 3,000 employees. The spending package also included funding for seven new teachers and eight new nurses, along with additional pay bumps for school principals.
One Dissenting Vote
District 1 board member David Cox cast the lone vote against the spending plan. Cox said his primary concern was committing more than $4 million a year to salaries at a time when the district was struggling to fund capital improvements, including replacing aging schools in areas where enrollment growth demanded it. Cox said he would likely have supported a straightforward 1 percent raise for all employees, but had reservations about additional raises given to principals beyond that baseline increase.
Specifically, Cox took issue with elementary school principals receiving a larger raise than the 1 percent given to other staff, arguing there was no clear justification for high school principals also receiving an above-baseline increase when they were not previously underpaid relative to their peers.
Board Leadership Defends the Plan
Board President Norman Moore, who represents District 4, defended the spending package, saying it reflected priorities identified by district staff and would help boost employee morale. Moore explained that the pay disparity for elementary principals had developed because assistant principals at middle and high schools were compensated more due to added after-hours responsibilities such as overseeing transportation and extracurricular activities. A district salary study found Baldwin County elementary principals were earning less than counterparts in other counties, prompting the adjustment to keep the district competitive in hiring and retention.
Board Vice President Angie Swiger, representing District 5, said the raises reflected an effort to restore pay lost during a freeze that took effect in 2009 after state education funding was cut. The 2014 raises marked the second consecutive year the board approved a 1 percent raise for all employees, following a similar $1.6 million increase approved unanimously the previous year.
Looking Back on the Decision
The debate captured a tension common to growing school districts in Baldwin County during the mid-2010s: balancing competitive employee pay against long-term capital needs as enrollment climbed across the county’s schools. Board members at the time framed the raises as a modest step toward making up for years of frozen pay following the Great Recession-era funding cuts.