Friday, April 27, 2012

More school payrolls are online

Updated Saturday: The database for surrounding school districts is up now. Strangest thing discovered on my first click: Gaston County's deputy superintendent makes more than the superintendent.

The 2012 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools payroll is ready, and there's more to come.

When the Observer first posted CMS salaries in 2008,  most of the questions I got were along the lines of  "Why would you do such a thing?"

Over the years,  as people came to expect access to public pay,  the queries changed to "Why can't I find the same information for other nearby districts?"  My answer was always simple:  I don't have time to request and post them.

Gavin Off
This year, database reporter Gavin Off took on the task,  rounding up salary lists from Cabarrus, Catawba, Gaston, Lincoln, Hickory, Iredell-Statesville, Mooresville and Union counties. He's working on some of the details, but we should have that posted later today.

As to why we do this:  It's public money,  and the way it's spent -- on teachers, on principals, on high-level administrators  --  is a matter of legitimate concern for taxpayers, public officials and all the people who depend on public education.  With more than 18,000 employees,  CMS is one of the largest employers in Mecklenburg County and North Carolina.

If you've got questions or comments about the surrounding districts, get in touch with Gavin at goff@charlotteobserver.com. I'm the point person for CMS, as usual.  Look for a story in Monday's Observer.

We don't have the 2012 salaries for Mecklenburg County and the city of Charlotte yet, but those should be coming soon.

109 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for embarrassing me to friends and family.

Anonymous said...

The 84,000 guy is gone, replaced by 3 $70,000.+ phys ed.

Anonymous said...

how about the corrupt county of stanly? sorry anonymous!! it is what is when you work for the public... be thankful for a job

Anonymous said...

How about posting salaries for the area towns? Huntersville, Matthews, Pineville, Mint Hill, Cornelius, & Davidson? A lot of your readership lives here & would be curious.

Anonymous said...

anonymous

I am glad people enjoy being ensured that the person educating their child makes NO money....are your salaries posted? If not I would hope its less than a teacher since YOU dont impact young minds

Anonymous said...

If you left all the databases up from 2008 to now you wouldn't see much of a difference since teacher pay has been frozen for the past 4 years!!! Please see how teachers are struggling and need support from the taxpayers. We don't make much as it but WITHOUT A TEACHER NO ONE WOULD BE WHERE THEY ARE TODAY!!!

Anonymous said...

We can pay a superintendent 288,000 but we can't pay our teachers or even give them a raise, how sad for education!

Anonymous said...

How about posting salaries for the local community colleges, eg CPCC?

Anonymous said...

How about posting the salary for local communicty colleges like CPCC?

Anonymous said...

What's the purpose of posting the salary of teachers by name? Post the salary by position; that is fine. But, when you post salaries by name; that is personal.

Anonymous said...

This is exactly why the teaching profession isn't respected.

Anonymous said...

Get over it, your names are there with your salary. It is taxpayer money. Be proud of who you are and what you do, or get out of the profession. Either way, get over it.

and I AM a teacher!

Anonymous said...

It is truly unfair for our educators to be put on display with there salaries. They barely make enough to pay there bills but yet you want to embarrass them with the monies that they earn for all they do for our young people. Take the salaries that are being paid to some of our elected officials and give these educators what they truly deserve. They have earned it. My hats off to all educators of the world. Keep up the good work. God will continue to bless each and everyone of you.

Anonymous said...

44 of Harding's 100 teachers have fewer than two years experience, on the lowest end of the pay for teachers. 56 out of 85 chose to transfer last year as soon as they were allowed after 4 years of being imprisoned (no transfers allowed system wide). If that many chose to escape, it should have been a red flag to downtown. It is going to happen again, but sadly they are leaving the profession because of the bad taste left in their mouths and the murder of the idealism that led them into education. Especially, the TEACHCHARLOTTE people who have to pay back for their training.


A few more principals need to "disappear" due to their incompetence and how they bully and threaten teachers. They do not understand that ogre Pete is gone. He's the one who told them to low rate experienced teachers to make it easier for him to get rid of higher salaries during reductions in force. They took it to a higher level and use this directive to try and silence teachers who dare to speak truth to power.
Harding epitomizes this trend and is a hostile working environment for everyone. No one is happy there and every teacher will tell you it is not the kids that are making them leave. It is the administration. No support and "gotcha" mentality when interacting with teachers and staff. Remove the incompetents before all the good teachers are gone. There are some great young people there who will be leaving the profession because of the way they are being treated. If Harding is to have any chance, the administration has to go.

April 28, 2012 6:55 AM

Anonymous said...

I often use this publication as a teachable moment---as students will come in and comment on my salary after they and their parents look it up (these kids also like to look up mug shots--it's a thing). I explain to them that I knew I would never get rich teaching, but I believe in what I do and although I haven't had any increase in salary in over 4 years now and benefit costs have risen so I actually have lost salary, even though I am a 10 year Veteran, that I still believe in what I do and as a short lesson for the day we discuss what being "uncouth" means and how discussing salaries of anyone is not considered professional or appropriate in a group setting--especially if it takes the tone of derision or crowing.

I have literally had students say thinks like--"my dad makes more than you do in a year in 2 months" or "I would never be a teacher because you get paid crap" or "I had so and so last year and she gets paid more than you do, but I think you're a way better teacher."

So...thanks to the Charlotte Observer's "due diligence" with "public money" and the apparent entitlement the community has to being able to find my name in a database and see that I make $39K a year and have for the past 4 years while legislators and pundits play games in Raleigh...Thanks to them I can have this moment with your kids to explain appropriate social morays and how not to be "uncouth".

Anonymous said...

Sorry teachers..

Anonymous said...

This town is so backwards. I have lived and been in major cities around the world and never have seen such low pay for teachers.. This is not a major city. I think the mayor of london said that to..

Anonymous said...

Why is the dnc comming here.. I thought they supported teachers.. This town and cms does not support teachers.. Administration does well.. Is it true administration also get bounes pay that is not posted.

Anonymous said...

I think its good for teachers. You must really care about children to work for such low pay.. How do you pay your student loans back and pay rent?

Anonymous said...

They should star a cms teacher fund. Bono and sting can put on a charity concert. I would send in cash. Sorry teachers

Anonymous said...

the dnc should not come here if they support teachers..

Anonymous said...

I will never say a bad word to my sons teaches again. All the things teachers are expected to do and all they have to put up with.. For what.. We as parent are lucky they show up everyday.

Anonymous said...

You should all know this is a STATE of NC issue... not just Charlotte...oddly enough, CMS has one of the better local supplement offerings. However, when pay is frozen for 4 years - - - Many teachers who are single work multiple jobs. Many teachers who are married and have kids work multiple jobs. NOW the State of NC wants to make teachers compete for salary. This will only decrease the quality of education as teachers are less likely to collaborate. EDUCATION is not a BUSINESS...it can't run like one because every student in every class every year of his or her life is different and in a different spot--we can't homogenize the world for a one size fits all solution.

Anonymous said...

Start.. Not star, sorry predicted text strikes again.

Anonymous said...

Cms should pay more, I belive this is probably one of the most difficult districts to work for. Gorman was payed very well and he quite..

Anonymous said...

Cms should pay more. This is one of the most difficult school systems to work for.

Anonymous said...

I agree. Gorman was paid very well and he quit

Anonymous said...

I'd be interested to see how folks from other nearby counties rank with their teacher salaries in relation to CMS. When can we expect that information to be posted? I thought it was supposed to be posted some time on Friday.

Anonymous said...

I heard that the reason teachers are paid so poorly, is do to a law that was created because of a fear that minority groups and public servant unions where starting to work together to end discrimination. Is this true? The new south acts like the old south.

Anonymous said...

All teachers in nc are paid poorly. Cms teachers have a better supplement then the surrounding areas but the pay is still awful. Cms teachers also have to pay higher taxes to live in charlotte. Many cms teachers leave cms and teach in the surrounding areas and take a pay cut, not to have deal with the bureaucrats from downtown. I once heard an administrator from a local school district say they count on cms teachers leaving to help fill their gaps.

Anonymous said...

I heard that teachers are going to have pay over 7320 dollars next year to get health insurance for their families. Is this ture?

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:49, most of the teachers at CPCC are part-time. They post the pay-rates on the HR part of the web site. For example, someone with a Master's degree makes $1,825 per 3 credit-hour semester-long class. Unless they teach summer classes, they are capped at 5 classes in the fall and 4 classes in the spring, so they would make $16,425 per year. No benefits. CPCC pays about $400 more per semester-long class than most NC community colleges.

Anonymous said...

How can we expect so much and give so little.. Sorry teachers. You should not be ashamed. We should.

Anonymous said...

Did the teachers get anything for cms winning the broad prize. I have seen gorman all over the place smiling next to the award.. Did he actually teach a class. If cms is doing so well for an urban district, then why are its teachers paid the least? if cms is making such great gains, then why are we shoving paid for performance down their throat? Why dont we try giving them a fair salary.

Anonymous said...

While teachers are public employees and make up the vast majority of this data base, there are a striking number of what I like to call Oreo creme middle employees who do absolutely nothing that teachers do not already know what to do. Look to the Zone employees all over town. You never hear about them because they are invisible CMS salary makers. School employees do not even know their names or job responsibilities! How about a special little article on them, their jobs and their salaries? Why is CMS still babying this segment who sit in offices eating, playing pranks on each other, leaving early on Fridays and making up jobs for teachers so they can keep doing what they do not do to get paid? Call them out, Observer!

Anonymous said...

The CMS homepage still shines Gorman's face on the majority of the slide show shots! It is an insult to the rest of us. He is gone and we are trying to forget.
And to answer your question, no, teachers got absolutely nothing from the Broad Prize. Nothing but a little picture to add to our email signatures.

Anonymous said...

Teachers went to college, past them ppst test, wich they paid for and they put up with alot of disrespect from administrators, students and parents. We should give them more then being thankful for a job...

Anonymous said...

The not them, they also have to pay for their teachers license and for students that lack supplies. My buddy is a teacher and he has snacks for some of her kids..

Anonymous said...

How about the health insurance for teachers families, is it really over 7300 dollars? Out west teachers were not paid well but health insurance was cheap. They had a great plan. I hear its not that way here.

Anonymous said...

God bless the person that teaches in nc.

Anonymous said...

Now that the salaries are listed, the parents at the bus stops will have a new subject to gossip about!
If you have the time to read these comments and even the time to look at the salaries, then your life must be pretty boring because what are you getting out of knowing your child's teacher's salary, your friend's salary, or even your next door neighbors salary? Nothing!

Anonymous said...

What the public needs to know is that CMS doesn't pay us enough, but expects us to do more and mors every year. Teachers are suppossed to teach, but in CMS we are also expected to do all the business side of education which administrators, who make more money, are supossed to be doing.

Anonymous said...

The reason CMS has no money to increase our salaries on a ladder based paid scale like we are supposed to be paid is because they waste all their money on ASSESSMENTS and TESTING! I spent more time this school year assessing my students than teaching them. As a kindergarten teacher, I have to assess 24 students one at a time!

Anonymous said...

Now I know how little they are paid. Next time I go to a parent teacher conference, I am going to be alot more understanding and grateful.

Anonymous said...

I went on the jobs tab and saw the teachers later pay scale.. After 30 years 60 grand..wow thats bad..

Anonymous said...

I hope the new superintendent addresses this issue. Gorman did not seem to do a good job working with teachers. At the end of the day, education is about a teacher willing to teach and a student willing to learn. Not an over paid educrat sitting in an office down town. The pay for teachers is not good for anyone. Pay for performance does not work, do not belive me look at the research. Showing the teachers name next to the low pay is rude at best. I apologize for the lack of common manners. Thank you for waking up every morning and going to our schools.

Anonymous said...

Teachers if you want a raise play the odds of a new game Project LIFT. All it takes is to drink the Watts KOOLAID for $10,000 annual raise. (you have to be a minority as well) Get over it and buy in folks or stop bitchin. CMS should also get rid of about $250,000 in the PR department since they fail miserably. Give that money to janitors or cafeteria works I dont care just get rid of the PR CREW.

Ann Doss Helms said...

Good question, 11:47; I'm trying to track down an answer. Before I left Friday night, Gavin said he had sent the database. Getting all the details right from districts that haven't been used to doing this took longer than expected.

Anonymous said...

You know, when I was growing up, it was considered extremely rude to even ask how much money someone else made. My own father wouldn't even tell me how much he made, just as he would never tell me who he voted for.

Times have certainly changed, and I'm not sure it's been for the better, either.

I genuinely have no interest at all in how much money anyone else makes.

carolinadude said...

I enjoyed looking over these figures and salaries. As a former CMS educator at Myers Park High School, I left a few years ago to pursue other opportunities. I have to say that these educators who are so upset over pay should leave the profession. From what I can see in these pay tables, our teachers in this county are paid quite well. One certainly does not enter this profession to have an excess of money coming in each month. I do find it quite appalling that we have educators making over $80K / year in fields such as ROTC, Physical Education, etc. I do believe that some educators do deserve raises but definitely not all. I hope the public takes a look at these salaries and realizes how some educators are overpaid!
Take a visit to classrooms/schools across the county to see just how much teaching and educating is actually going on, you may be surprised. As an inside source, I remember most of the teachers who complained about pay and benefits were doing that all day rather than actually teaching. Bring on pay for performance and get some of these lazy teachers out of the classroom.

Anonymous said...

These numbers aren't even close. Superintendents at some of the largest districts in the state only making 100k a year. Deputies making more, not a chance. Did CMS compile this? Might should not be so hard on them for invalid data.

Anonymous said...

Looks like some resignations are in order.

GreenDomainHosting.com said...

I am disappointed the report gives full names and salaries. I think it is important to have accountability with public employees but really, the names could have been left off.

Location, position and salary would have been ideal.

I really wish teachers got the pay they deserve! Such a shame.

Anonymous said...

Since I pay for the Observer let's get the pay roll up loaded for all their employees. It seems only fair, we are paying their salaries. I want to know where my subscription money is funding, because this article is clearly not "All the news that is fit to print".

Anonymous said...

Ann, your data is wrong. GCS superintendent Reeves McGlohon is the highest paid employee in the district at $177,000 per year. A little bit of reading the neighboring paper would have been better than your flawed lead.
http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/board-69964-schools-score.html

Anonymous said...

Do you plan to list everything they have taken AWAY? Mentor pay, Bonus money ( pay for performance), etc....? How about higher insurance costs...and pay freezes for four years? Smary, slimy......

Anonymous said...

All that money spent on college and the CATS bus drivers make more then the teachers

Anonymous said...

The scale has been frozen.. Who is making 80k? The scale stops at 60.. ! Unless you have a masters and are national board. Wich all cost money. My mother was a teacher. Not hear, and we were never rich but the pay was fair. My sons teacher is a lifeguard in the summer. This place is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

I'm curious as to who provided the information for this database. I am a teacher, and the salary listed for me in this database is a good $8,000 a year higher than my actual salary. It doesn't even remotely match the state salary schedule, my paycheck, or my W2. I am concerned that inaccurate information is being passed off as concrete and factual, thereby giving the impression that teacher pay is far better than it actually is.

Anonymous said...

I bet he left because o low wages.

Anonymous said...

The fix is in.. I new when the clown from m park said 80 thousand, something was wrong..

Anonymous said...

My pay was almost 4000 over. Who do you work for observer..? Did gorman give u these numbers....? This is the new south, who needs the truth.. And I work at pool in the summer for 10 dollars an hr. Charlotte is awsome, thanks for the support dnc. Mabey in 4 years the dnc can go to alaska and club baby seals to show support for the environmental movement.

Anonymous said...

No the healthcare plan cost to much..

Anonymous said...

Rotc are x military, they have done alot more for our schools and country then you. America has an obesity problem, pe could help. You quit

Anonymous said...

Ok, lets double teachers salaries!
BUT...now they work 52 weeks year with 2-week vacation. No paid sick leave (we dont get any "paid sick leave"), and pay for their own health insurance. And no pensions, invest in their own 401k and worry about that issue for future retirement. Oh yea, work and worry like a small business does.
Teachers are getting paid very well, and yet will always complain.

Anonymous said...

Note to above - teachers DO pay their own retirement - it comes out of every check. Now, go get help for your teacher hatred.

Anonymous said...

ROTC instructors are NOT paid with local/state funds...they are a Federally funded program.

Reggie Mantle said...

There is no purpose served in printing individual names.

How about publishing the salaries of Observer staff?

CMS Parent said...

@8:33am on the 28th. Bravo for teaching manners to your students. Too bad their parents can't do the same. I was also taught never to discuss salaries.

I understand about wanting to know where tax dollars are spent, but putting names with salaries is distasteful. My sister teaches and part of her salary also goes to supplies and snacks for kids who are hungry.

To the reply that spoke of working 52 weeks a year--do you spend 10% of your personal, after tax salary to feed your clients. I bet not.

Anonymous said...

I think we should be able to see bank and other entities accepting bailout funds...they're public now too

Anonymous said...

Completely thoughtless to post the salary information.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Ann, you proud of this? What a life you must lead.

Anonymous said...

Posting a range of salaries by position and school system is useful information. Adding an analysis and commentary about how our region compares to others across the nation is reporting. A simple list of names and salaries is just plain nosy and serves no public purpose. Ann Doss Helms and Gavin Off, you should be ashamed of yourselves. It's sad to see once-proud Charlotte Observer stoop to National Enquirer sensationalistic tactics.

Anonymous said...

KUDOS to the person who posted information about Harding. Before I arrived at Harding I was teacher of the year twice with an excellent work history, and recommendations from my principals. I came to Harding several years ago and that administration arrived that year as well. From day one I was SCUM and could not do anything right while "picks" got above standard. Thank God the transfer opened up last year. Even though I'm not making any money I feel like a teacher again and I'm not on pens and needles waiting on the hit squad to come to my class for a GOTCHA moment. My prayers go out to the 10-15 teachers who did not transfer but I kow applied.

How is it that that administration continue to exist and the ENTIRE staff is female, oh yea there is one token male. I think if the admin was all men doing the things they have done they would have been transferred long ago.

Anonymous said...

Having recently completed the tax return for a teacher on this list, I can truthfully say that either the Observer's data is way off or this teacher forged a significantly understated W-2 form. I'm inclined to believe that the Observer didn't confirm the accuracy or consistency of this data. Bad data is worse than no data at all. So much for journalism.

Anonymous said...

I wish we were more concerned about performance and less about what people make.

Anonymous said...

Sounds good to me, I already pay over 7000 a year to provide my family with healthcare. It only 70/30, hope no one gets sick. my co pay is 50 , 81 for a specilist. It also cost extra for vision and we do not have dental. Next year will be my 10th year of teaching and I will make 36900. I will have to quit my summer job that I work 6 to 7 days a week and nights during spring and fall because I have to teach during the day. It will be hard, the 10 dollars an hour will be missed. I do not think you are a teacher hater. You probably come from the north where teachers are paid well and have great benefits.

Anonymous said...

All people who contemplated teaching knew the salary range when they started. They may have not known about rate of change in the future, but then again no one else does either.

There are many teachers that deserve more, maybe 50 or 100 percent more, because they not only show passion for their craft but also demonstrate high level of technical competence and motivate students.

There are an equal number that are merely adequate and would be considered b or c players in any corporation.

Finally, there are many teachers that don't deserve the job they have. They are wholly incompetent. By 7 th or 8 th grade, the brightest students begin to recognize that they are in fact smarter than many of their teachers. It's at that same point that they realize they don't want to teach.

Huge raises to top 10 percent. Reasonable raises to next 10 percent. No increase without improved performance to next 60 percent. Fire the bottom 20 percent.

Anonymous said...

Easy for you to say, are your children on reduced lunch? Do you have over 30000 dollars in student loans? I knew that I would never be rich but I didn't think I be poor.

Anonymous said...

In addition to above.....

Our children would receive a better education if the top 30 pct of the teachers instructed in larger classrooms and were simply supported by the less qualified and competent teachers.

Think of your favorite teacher or teachers. Do you recall the class size or the teacher?

Anonymous said...

Anon10.22

No my kids are not on a reduced lunch. No I don't have student loans ( or any other loans for that matter).

If you think you are poor at 35 or 40 k a year you have not experienced poor!

Perhaps you need help budgeting or more likely should not have borrowed money to go to college if the outcome was a career that could not repay the loan.

Anonymous said...

Let me ask you, why did you borrow money to go to college when you could have chosen another career path with greater financial gain and little to no college debt?

Anonymous said...

You might want to consider including how much each teacher spends out of pocket for classroom and student supplies. How about including the amount of unpaid time donated by each teacher for after hours training, planning, conferencing, grading and evening events? If you are going to "inform" the public, paint an accurate picture. At the end of the day, can you honestly say this invasion of privacy has done anything to better our schools? You will be remembered for two things: the problems you solve or the ones you create.

Anonymous said...

I don't know which is more disgusting, the stupidly low salaries paid to teachers or the Observer posting teachers' names along with their salaries.

Anonymous said...

.....and now it starts. I am a teacher in an affluent area. My pay does not measure up to what my community would see as acceptable and livable. I make it work for my family, and I love my job. However, I spend a lot of times defending my instructional and disciplinary actions to parents, because respect for the profession has gone down so much. Now, it's out there in the open how much I make, and that will make my professionalism be called into question when I am talking with parents about why-their-child-got-a-bad-grade-when-they-didn't-do-their work. In their eyes, teachers haven't been worth much, and now it's been verified. Add that to the low, low morale that all in the education world are experiencing right now...this really feels awful.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to know where this information came from. I looked up my own salary (I'm a Cabarrus County employee) and the listed salary was $6000 higher than what I actually make. I looked up a few of my co-workers and their salaries were also listed as being significantly higher. If our salary information is going to be posted for the public at least make sure it is accurate!

dscienceguy said...

Ms. Helms,

Continuing your pursuit of knowledge about the salaries of school personnel, would you please do a story on how administrative personnel (anyone not a teacher) may take vacation days while students are in school and teachers cannot? Would you please research bonus money given to administrative personnel for a school making their goals and teachers do not? Thank you. I apologive if you have been asked this previously.

dsienceguy said...

"apologize"

Anonymous said...

Perhaps The Observer should also publish the salaries of every organization, public and private that receives tax dollars, since we have a right to know how tax money is being spent. I would include any organization receiving tax cuts as well, since in effect, they are receiving tax dollars.

Anonymous said...

No, I didn't think of class size because they had a maximum of 25 students. Some of my sons classes have over 30 studets.. I dont care who the teacher is, at some point numbers matter.

Anonymous said...

I volunteer for special olympics in college and really enjoyed working with the athletes. I found out that schools had trouble finding teachers to work with these students. I changed my major and had to go to grad school for a year to get the MR license as the state required. Life brought me to charlotte. I did make a mistake moving here.

Anonymous said...

All this does is create problems for people. I understand that the public has a right to know how tax money is spent but I consider my salary to be my personal business as I am sure many others do too. There are ways of reporting the amount of funds being spent on salaries without putting a number with a name. It creates hostility in the workplace when people start comparing their salary to the salary of others.

Anonymous said...

This is an interesting concept. I have spoken with numerous teacher friends in different parts of the country, including parts of NC, the past few days and not a single one of them has said that their local newspaper or state office posts a "searchable database" of teacher salaries. So this begs the question as to WHY the CO thinks this is such a grand idea? We know Hugh thinks the public needs to know where teacher salaries fall in order to push for that raise, but couldn't the dual purpose of information and accountability be accomplished without directly linking a specific salary to a specific teacher? The pay scale is posted on the CMS website--it's not like one can't look at that and see where salaries fall. Next, the CO will be clamoring for all of the summative information for each teacher. Heck--why don't you gather pap smear results as well--as benefits are paid with public funds? Is nothing sacred or allowed to be private to at least some degree?

Anonymous said...

Leave the banks and TARP out of this folks most of us have paid back TARP a year ago. Read the news before commenting it shows your lack of knowledge.

Anonymous said...

Just wish the info was right for Cabarrus County. Don't know where these numbers are coming from, but they are at least $6000 too high.

Anonymous said...

I disagree with the comment left earlier about Project Lift seeking only minority candidates...Ann would you find out how staff was chosen at Project Lift Schools? Many where I work were displaced but included white and black teachers.

Anonymous said...

Pay for performance is just wrong especially when your pay may be tied to a student who spends half the school year pregnant, incarcerated,truant or just doesn't work. If a teacher isn't doing his/her job just fire them. Oh yeah, who will they find to replace them, maybe a bank executive??? No way salary is too low.

Anonymous said...

People, if you WORK for a state, local or federal government, you are a PUBLIC SERVANT.

Therefore, your salary and basic personnel information (your resume) are public information.

Get over it.

Public sector = public disclosure.

Ann Doss Helms said...

People who are saying this is off for your pay: Please email me (ahelms@charlotteobserver.com) if you're in CMS or Gavin (goff@charlotteobserver.com) if you're in one of the other districts. In years past I have gotten similar complaints, and in some cases we uncovered and corrected errors in what was provided to us. However, the "this doesn't match my W2" concern is often tied to the difference between taxable income vs. total gross income. What they're listing is pay before anything is deducted, which, as we all know, is a lot more than what we take home.

wes_mantooth said...

Posting salaries is just plain tacky and the lowest form of "journalism". You are pandering to those chest thumping tea party losers who have nothing better to do than take pot shots at anyone who has the unfortunate career aspiration to serve the public. How about posting all salaries of employees at the Charlotte Observer first?

Ann Doss Helms said...

On the Gaston superintendent, I have to admit that has me worried that we got wrong/incomplete information from that district. When I see things like that on CMS, I call and double-check. I've asked Gavin to re-check with Gaston if he hasn't already. For people who are asking where we go the info, we requested it from each district involved. Sometimes there are differences in formats; as you can see, Cabarrus County has apparently used one that doesn't fully describe titles or locations.

Ann Doss Helms said...

On the question about who gets bonuses and who doesn't, on CMS for sure (and I think others), if you click "details" for any individual, it will tell you how much of the total compensation is base salary and how much is bonus.

And that question gets to why we break this out by name. Yes, you can already find teacher pay scales without names. But if you want to know who's getting bonuses, or how people who are not on a fixed pay scale are compensated (that includes principals and top administrators), you need individual listings. A lot can be hidden behind generic pay scales.

Ann Doss Helms said...

And on the perennial "publish the Observer's salaries" comments: I don't know of any private business that voluntarily publishes its payroll information. But if the O took an employee vote on doing so, I'd vote for disclosure. Knowledge is always better than ignorance, in my view. I'd be curious to see where I fall on our scale.

Anonymous said...

I am at a charter and we were told not to discuss our salaries with each other. So, as charter employees are paid with public funds-how does that work? You can publish the info, but we get in trouble for "talking about it amongst ourselves."

Additionally, I really don't care what anyone makes in any profession, including the CO. How does it serve the public good to know who gets bonuses, etc.? Again, that information could be published without a name that "x" number of principals received "x" amount of dollars in "x" zone. It's just tacky, CO, to out these teachers in our community. However, in the interest of equity, why aren't ALL salaries for ALL public "servant" jobs being posted. In the years I have read the CO, it's only be a target on educational jobs in our communities. Tsk, Tsk

Ann Doss Helms said...

8:20, check our data center: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/data/

We've got salaries for city, county and state as well. CMS is just so much bigger than city and county that it may get more attention. You are right that we should be able to get them for charter schools, too; it would just take a lot of individual requests.

Anonymous said...

April 27, 2012 5:42 PM - that is a great request. We can see how much we'll need to break away from CMS. Back in the day (growing up), our town funded its' own school system with the same population of those towns. We can do it here too!!!

Anonymous said...

Most are underpaid. The money to make it more fair should be gotten by eliminating the 5 area superintendents added by Gorman, cutting the PR dept budget back to to pre Gorman levels and putting a cap on what phys ed teachers earn.

Anonymous said...

The CMS salary database still works, but this one has been taken down? Reason?

Medisoft software said...

Most teachers are underpaid. Is it because they love their profession so much that the schools take advantage of it?