Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Latest CMS payroll is posted

The 2013 payroll database for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools lists 18,665 employees,  including 8,938 teachers.  That's an increase of 314 people  --  154 of them teachers  --  over last spring's payroll.  Total salaries are up by $26.1 million,  but the total of almost $706 million remains below the pre-recession peak of $745 million.

This is the sixth year the Observer has posted salaries of public employees,  including CMS,  the largest government employer in this area.  The information is public by law,  and it provides a  snapshot of employment and pay as officials plan the coming year's budget.  I'll be delving deeper for a story in the next few days.

In an organization as big and ever-changing as CMS,  even the basic numbers can be tough to pin down.  The latest budget book says there are 17,032 total personnel this year,  with 10,611  "teachers and support staff."  That teacher tally generally includes counselors,  facilitators,  librarians and other licensed folks.  (It's on page 85,  if you're checking.)  The 2013-14 plan calls for a decrease of 73 total personnel,  apparently driven largely by the governor's proposed cut in teacher assistants,  and an increase of 197 teachers and support staff.

The budget book counts authorized positions;  two half-time employees would show up as one full-time job.  The payroll lists everyone who's working at the time it's provided, including part-time and temporary staff.  The breakdown this year is  16,228 full-time employees,  1,140 part-timers and 1,297 temporary staff.  People who are listed as teachers in the database make up about 48 percent of all employees and 49 percent of full-time employees.

Full-time teacher pay ranges from $35,418 to $93,396 a year.  The CMS teacher pay scale tops out at just under $79,000,  but ROTC teachers get a federal supplement as active members of the military.  As usual,  the highest-paid teachers are either ROTC or teachers assigned to central offices,  presumably on a 12-month basis rather than the 10-month academic year.

Stay tuned for more,  and let me know your questions. 

45 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whatever your teacher's pay is...it is thousands less than what they were promised a few years ago when the legislature broke its contract with them. Take home pay has gone down each year for the past five years. Job responsibilities have INCREASED exponentially while pay has declined.

Anonymous said...

Less than 50% of employees are considered teachers? What's wrong with this picture CMS? Cut the supporting positions, don't cut teacher/instructional assistants. Please show the public that you can make the right decision for the students this time.

Anonymous said...

Simple take the money from the downtown suits that do very little and give it to the teachers/teacher assistants. Take it from Meck Ed (yes CMS funded that back with Petey) and put it in the classroom. From the PR department put it in the teachers pocket. From all the bumbling fools who are not in the classroom providing value give it to direct learning staff. And do it NOW.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know how much money is being spent on implementing the core curriculum, money that could go toward teacher salaries and keeping Teacher assistants (who are very important at our school)

Anonymous said...

Why don't you post salaries for CPCC?

Ann Doss Helms said...

Checking on that, 9:20. I believe we have tried and failed to get that in past years, but we'll explore it again.

Anonymous said...

I'd love to hear about Cabarrus County.

Ann Doss Helms said...

Payrolls for school districts in surrounding counties are coming later this week. We're also working on updating city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.

Anonymous said...

Our school shows 3 teachers labeled as EC (gifted), however none of the parents I know (including myself) with "gifted" children has have ANY contact with them. Interesting-I would be willing to bet that they are reallocating those resources to the other end of the spectrum. CMS is awful. Can't get a straight answer out of the school regarding this. Anyone else encounter this?

Anonymous said...

11:42,
That's what administrators are good for, obfuscation due to fear of being held responsible by someone above them trying to justify their own position. Go up the chain of command to the area superintendent, or better yet Heath and scream, then scream a little louder until you annoy every last one of the middle managers in the way of an answer. It never stopped any of the parents that expected me to pass Madison or Chevette at the end of the year.

Anonymous said...

Any changes in substitute teacher pay or hours considering the new health insurance rules,please post.Thanks.

Anonymous said...

How about payrolls for community colleges in surrounding counties?

Anonymous said...

I guess while your at it Ann pull the salaries in the best perfoming districts in our region York and Iredell. Compare what they pay to have a great school system. I bet its the same or less than CMS.

Anonymous said...

Some of these are a disgrace... we should count our blessings that anyone shows up! Shame on NC and for that matter the USA. How often do "we" give lip service to the importance of education? We should practice what we preach!

Maybe the next generation?

Anonymous said...

EC stands for Exceptionally Challenged, NOT gifted...this means that EC students are those with physical and mental handicaps.

Anonymous said...

@2:35pm-those with this label are: Teacher, EC-Acad. Gifted. CMS has 80 of them. Can someone tell me if their are actually worked with those labeled "gifted?" Thinking answer is NO. None are our school all year and there are 2 of those at our school.

Anonymous said...

In response to "Anonymous" who stated her school had three EC teachers. In NC "EC" means "exceptional" not gifted. These students have emotional or behavioral issues which precludes them from functioning in a regular classroon.

Anonymous said...

2:35

EC stands for "Exceptional Children" which includes students with disabilities AND academically gifted students.

There is such a thing called "twice exceptional" children who have a learning disability and/or physical disability but also qualify for gifted education services. Children with learning disabilities have average to above average I.Q.'s. Being learning disabled is NOT the same thing as having a low I.Q. A learning disability is a discrepancy between ability and performance.

Alicia

Ann Doss Helms said...

Those "EC-acad gifted" labels confused me, too. I have always believed "exceptional children" referred only to students with disabilities in CMS, while teachers of gifted students were called TD, for Talent Development. I'll see what I can find out; maybe this is a terminology change with new state regs and/or the new superintendent.

Anonymous said...

This drives me nuts...

EC - Exceptional Children:

1. gifted
2. learning disabled
3. physically disabled
4. emotionally disabled

The only students who are not "exceptional" and do not qualify for additional EC funding are those who are "average".

Alicia

Anonymous said...

Don't know why my comment posted twice.

EC:

You can thank the educational establishment for continually coming up with new ways of naming things which does nothing more than create the kind of confusion you see here. Political correctness gone awry.

Remember ESL - English as a Second Language ? It's now called ELL - English Language Learners. FRL - Free and Reduced Lunch is now called ED for Economically Disadvantaged which is what my grandmother used to call POOR children.

Alicia

Anonymous said...

Write a story Ann and do some research about who bought EES ticket to California for the conference. Was it CMS? Was it Chamber? A developer? A design firm? NAACP? Dig into that one.

Anonymous said...

EC -

Exceptional Children generally have something called an I.E.P. which stands for Individual Education Program.

Dr. Morrison would like to address this discriminatory practice by implementing an I.E.P. for EVERY child in the spirit of "Every child, every day for a better tomorrow". To date, I think Dr. Morrison is doing a decent job. However, I think bogging teachers down with additional and unnecessary paperwork is ridiculous especially as the state considers cutting teacher assistants.

Alicia

Anonymous said...

Alicia, these are called PEP's and SB168 will help eliminate them.

Anonymous said...

3:58
PEP's? OK, if you say so.

Alicia

Joe said...

Teacher are not paid enough for the work they have to do and the Crap they have to take from the School administrators, kids and parents.. it is interesting how the folks who make the rules have not spend one day in the classroom..They are asked to do more with less everyday.. I commend teachers for the work they do everyday.. they never seem to get the Kudos they deserve

Ann Doss Helms said...

Love those acronyms! IEPs are Individual Education Plans, for students with disabilities. PEPs are Personal Education Plans, for students who are below grade level (but not necessarily disabled).

Anonymous said...

Looks like some reallocation of funds needs to occur. Teachers are less than half the employees? Really? No, really?

Anonymous said...

The $79,000 teacher's salary is the top salary for a teacher with a doctorate degree which represents only a very small fraction of teachers. The top salary for a teacher with a Bachelors degree (most teachers) is $53,180. Huge difference.

Ann Doss Helms said...

Actually, the big bump comes from National Board Certification. A teacher with a bachelor's can max out at $69,720 and with a master's at $77,697 if they have the national certification.

Anonymous said...

Ann,
I could have sworn gifted students have IEP's also. Maybe I'm wrong.

Alicia

Anonymous said...

At some point, CMS had 3 times the national average of gifted students. Is this still true?

Alicia

Anonymous said...

EC is the abbreviation for Exceptional Children. There are 14 areas of eligibility for these services, not just the intellectually or physically challenged. And the Talent Development program is part of the EC Department.

Anonymous said...

Maybe you should do a detailed article on the EC Department and clear up some of these comments. As an EC teacher with a Masters Degree, the lack of knowledge behind these comments is frustrating. If you do not know the subject matter, stay out of the conversation. The public apparently needs to understand exactly what EC means, the children who are served,the setting they are served in and the extra time and work that EC teachers do for ALL children.

Anonymous said...

Students with IEPs are not necessarily disabled; they require specially designed instruction to access the curriculum.

Anonymous said...

CMS salaries have gone WAY up since I helped teachers in the mid-90's plan for retirement with 403(b)'s. Starting was about $17,800 and the top of the range was close to $37,000 with 19 years service. My wife and all her nursing friends haven't seen THEIR salaries go up this much and nurses are FAR more important than teachers. So any gripes about pay stick it where the sun won't shine.

Anonymous said...

I can remember sitting down with the Principal of First Ward Elementary in 1995 and HIS salary was $52,000/yr. Now Principal's make more than DOUBLE that. All this complaining has no merit. As I said, my wife and her nurse friends haven't had their salaries double or triple in that same time, and if you don't think nurses are more important then I'll bet you didn't grow up here like me or even live here in 1995 cause you were in New York. Go home liberal.

Anonymous said...

7:10
Yes, it is frustrating. Highly frustrating.

Clearly, the average parent doesn't understand half of what the EC department does. I have two children who qualified for CMS EC services (gifted and LD) and I'm as confused as anyone. I vehemently disagree that parents and the public who are not EC experts should be excluded from the conversation. Public education needs to be ACCESSIBLE to the public.

How about writing something yourself and submitting it to the Observer editorial staff to help the public understand what the EC department is all about? Consider it a matter of civic duty.

Alicia

Anonymous said...

If you do not have direct contact with students in the classroom your salary should be reduced PERIOD

To get an increase in salary you should have to teach AT LEAST 1 class per day.

Is that to much to ask?

Anonymous said...

Students do not have to have an IEP to be in the TD or "Gifted" program.

Anonymous said...

7:20

"Access the curriculum"?

?????

Alicia

Anonymous said...

7:49, 7:57...

I started teaching in CMS in 1996. I don't recall my exact salary, but it was not $17,800 (that sounds more like a TA salary). I believe it was in the 24K to 25K range. Your statement regarding salaries of principals is a bit misleading. You imply all principals make over 104K. Without perusing the entire payroll, I would guess only a dozen or so principals have reached that level. Please do not compare the importance of teachers and nurses; they are both vital professions. Comparing occupations in different fields (and sectors) is not realistic.

Anonymous said...

7:57

Nurses are more important than teachers???

Who taught your wife how to become a nurse???

:)

Anonymous said...

Although I am not from your state, I can see from your writing that you are only concerned with teacher's salaries and benefits.
To hell with the taxpayers who have to provide them, even with those taxpayers who have no children. Of, and of course lets make sure your teachers receive more than the average worker in the private sector. Now tell me that there are no "average" teachers.
How many of my teachers were average? more than 50%. Why? Because they spent more time with less than 10% of the class., thats why.
I don't think teachers need raises. I think they need deductions. I think all of those in the education system should be treated like every one else in the private sector. No difference.
Thats why our country is bancrupt. Public employees and their UNIONS. damn them all.
disgusted unemployed after being layed off after 20 years of faithful work. no pension, no nothing. HOMELESS.

Anonymous said...

8:36

Sorry no teacher union down here and check the salary of a private school teacher in Charlotte compared to a public school teacher. The privates make more on average with better benefits than the "average" public school teacher.