Superintendent gets 4 percent pay increase
After a 2 percent raise to the base salary and a trustee-approved stipend, the Kalispell Public Schools superintendent's salary this year is a little closer to that of her Class AA peers.
Superintendent Darlene Schottle will make about $118,600 during the 2009-10 school year, plus benefits. This is about a 4 percent raise on last year's base salary, but still leaves Schottle in sixth place out of the seven AA superintendent's salaries.
Last year, Schottle's $113,711 salary also put her sixth out of seven AA superintendents. Only Butte was lower, with a salary of $108,269; Missoula was highest at $132,600. The average AA superintendent's salary in 2008-09 was $121,942.
Schottle said her salary is 'reflective of hire date." Several AA districts have had to hire new superintendents recently, which has driven their salaries higher.
Butte bucked the trend; this year, new Superintendent Linda Reksten will earn about $102,000, plus benefits.
Montana's largest districts follow national trends. In large districts across the country, the turnover rate for superintendents is about three years, Schottle said.
Of Montana's AA superintendents, Schottle said only she and Helena Superintendent Bruce Messinger have been in their positions longer than five years. Schottle is starting her seventh year as head of Kalispell Public Schools.
She received the 2 percent base raise this year along with the other employees in the district's central office - and most of the district's other employees.
Unions across the board negotiated 2 percent raises on their base salaries. Negotiations with the four-person maintenance department are still in progress.
The central office's nonunion employees, including Schottle, Assistant Superintendent Dan Zorn, district clerk Todd Watkins and human resources director Karen Glasser, do not negotiate for pay raises as other school groups do.
Historically, however, central office employees have received the same raises as members of the district teacher's union, the Kalispell Education Association, Glasser said.
The raises went against Watkins' recommendation. Due to budget constraints, he advocated a 0 to 1 percent raise on the base for all the district's employees.
In addition to the 2 percent increase to her base salary, Schottle will receive an extra $2,000.
The board of trustees approved the $2,068 stipend in July to reward Schottle for having a doctorate.
The figure is based on the Kalispell Education Association's salary schedule, which gives teachers who earn a doctorate an extra $2,068.
"I appreciate the board offering me the doctoral stipend along with other staff members that have invested their time and energy to complete a doctorate program," Schottle said in an e-mail to the Inter Lake.
At the July meeting, trustee Don Murray said the district personnel committee supported the stipend.
"The committee said, 'We should do that,'" Murray said then. Having a doctorate is "not a requirement, but it's certainly a feather in our cap."
The stipend might create incentive for future administrators to get their doctorates, Murray added.
Every Class AA superintendent in Montana holds a doctorate, but only Schottle receives a stipend for it.
Cheryl Crawley, superintendent of the Great Falls School District, recently completed her doctorate through the University of California at Berkeley and could possibly receive a stipend in the future.
"I know that we do have stipends. We have a whole salary schedule that reinforces continuing education," she said. "It does have a stipend for a Ph.D."
Policies vary by district, said Kim Harris, the Helena district's business administrator. Messinger doesn't receive a stipend, Harris said. The Bozeman district requires its superintendent to hold a doctorate.
For further information about Kalispell Public Schools salaries and budget information, visit www.sd5.k12.mt.us and click on "Business & Finance."
Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.