MOBILE, Ala. — The Mobile County school board has scheduled a special session to iron out the final details of its 2014-15 employee salary schedule, after tabling the proposal at a previous meeting to make sure the numbers are presented clearly.
Superintendent Martha Peek told board members the delay was about clarity, not disagreement over the substance of the plan. “We’re just tweaking it — getting it written so everybody can understand it,” Peek said, adding that the district wants to be transparent about how salaries are calculated across its roughly 7,400 employees.
One sticking point involved the district’s top administrators. Salaries for the four assistant superintendents and other members of the central office leadership team had been listed simply as “open” on earlier drafts of the schedule. Board members asked that the full dollar figures be spelled out instead, according to Peek.
The proposed schedule offers a detailed look at what teachers and support staff can expect to earn. A first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree would start at $36,867 for a nine-month contract, rising to $42,395 for a teacher holding a master’s degree. Teachers working a full 12-month calendar year would start at $43,767.
Substitute pay is also spelled out: a substitute without a current teaching certificate would earn $58 a day, while a certified substitute teacher would earn $90 a day. Teachers can pick up additional stipends throughout the year, including $16 an hour for professional development workshops, $25 an hour for summer school or detention supervision, and $10 to $25 per athletic event for tasks like taking tickets or operating a scoreboard.
The schedule extends well beyond classroom staff. Proposed pay includes $33,990 for most central office secretaries and transportation clerks, $57,579 for curriculum supervisors overseeing subjects like math and science, $41,857 for computer network technicians, $31,987 for welders, $26,887 for painters and $20,951 for elementary or middle school registrars.
Human resources executive manager Bryan Hack said the district also changed how it pays managers in its Child Nutrition Program. Rather than tying pay partly to the number of meals served, as in past years, all CNP managers will now fall under the same pay scale — bringing Mobile County in line with practices in other Alabama school systems.
Hack said his department spent the year surveying salary schedules from nearly every district in the state, along with private-sector and regional pay data, to make sure Mobile County’s offer stays competitive. Officials also held three public hearings on the proposal last spring. Once the board gives final approval, the complete salary schedule is expected to be posted publicly on the district’s website.