Salary Scale Study

EVERGREEN SOLUTIONS, LLC

Salary Scale Study

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) retained Evergreen Solutions, LLC in the fall of 2012 to assess the relative market competitiveness of its FY13 pay scales for all employee groups. This brief summary provides a basic snapshot of our current progress and includes an overview of the current situation and several options for increasing market competitiveness and internal equity. As a draft report, the document is not intended to serve as a comprehensive report.

Summary of Current Situation

Structure and Tenure

LCPS currently has four pay structures for four different groups of employees which place employees into pay grades by classification. All four plans are organized in a step plan configuration that enables employees to progress through the pay grade with each year of tenure in their respective classifications. Mobility in each plan depends on years of service, yet does not allocate equal steps for each year. For example, in the Licensed pay plan, teachers realize a smaller percentage increase in the first four years than in later years. Moreover, while employees are guaranteed to move up a step in their grade each year (barring poor performance on an annual evaluation), in recent years this has not guaranteed an increase in salary. In order to enable employees to move up a step within their respective pay grade without receiving an increase in salary, and in response to the economic downturn, LCPS added steps to the beginning of each grade which were lower than the previous minimum to allow step mobility with minimal reoccurring cost. It is important to note that employees may be evenly distributed across steps within their respective pay grade, but this does not necessarily equate with an even distribution of employees across the pay plan in terms of compensation.

As part of the assessment of current conditions, an analysis was performed to determine where employee salaries fall within each of the four pay structures. This analysis divided each pay grade into four equal quartiles, and employees were assigned a quartile based on where their salaries fell.

Exhibit A captures average employee tenure by pay grade. Across all LCPS pay plans, tenure is approximately 9.11 years. This is slightly higher than the national average for school divisions, systems, or districts, and also the average among market peers who provided tenure data (Alexandria City Schools and Prince William Schools).

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Exhibit A ? LCPS Employee

Tenure by Pay Grade

Licensed

Classified

Grade

Count Avg Tenure Grade Count Avg Tenure

1 - Technical Professional License 11

14.5

5

438

7.0

2 - Bachelor's Degree

1010 6.1

6

234

9.2

3 - Bachelor's Plus 15

460 10.9

7

22

12.4

4 - Bachelor's Plus 30

312 13.6

8

199

7.9

5 - Master's Degree

2630 8.7

9

1424

7.8

6 - Master's Plus 30

735 12.4

10

114

9.6

7 - Doctoral Degree

93

7.8

11

909

9.2

Licensed Average

9.2

12

152

11.9

Administrator

13

221

11.1

Grade

Count Avg Tenure 14

40

12.6

1

87

11.2

15

50

11.3

2

65

13.0

16

133

9.8

3

92

13.1

17

30

10.0

4

56

13.4

Classified Average

8.7

5

31

14.9

Auxiliary

6

14

17.9

Grade Count Avg Tenure

7

7

10.7

1

34

7.0

Administrator Average

13.0

2

40

10.1

3

13

7.7

4

13

6.3

Auxiliary Average

8.2

Overall Average 9.1

Licensed Pay Plan

Teachers and other employees within the Licensed group are slotted into a single pay plan. The plan consists of seven pay grades, all of which are occupied by at least one employee. Range spreads vary from 79.0 percent to 97.0 percent, with an average range spread of 89.0 percent across the plan, respectively. The Quartile Analysis reveals that over half of employees within the Licensed group (57.6 percent) fall within the first quartile of their respective grade, taking employees within both pay plans into account.

Classified Pay Plan

The Classified pay plan consists of 13 grades, all of which are occupied by at least one employee. Range spreads vary from 85 percent to 89 percent, with an average range spread of 87 percent across the entire pay plan. The Quartile Analysis further reveals that 69.0 percent of employees within the Classified pay plan fall within the first quartile of their respective pay grades.

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Auxiliary Pay Plan

The Auxiliary pay plan consists of four pay grades, all of which are occupied by at least one employee. Range spreads vary from 84 percent to 85 percent, with an average range spread of 84 across the entire plan. The Quartile Analysis reveals that there are slightly more employees within the first quartile of their respective pay grade compared to other quartiles, but for the most part, employees are evenly split across the four quartiles within the pay plan.

Administrator Pay Plan

The Administrator pay plan consists of seven grades, all of which are currently occupied by at least one employee. Range spreads vary from 44 percent to 48 percent, with an average range spread of 47 across the entire pay plan. The Quartile Analysis revealed that employees slotted in higher pay grades within the pay plan tended to fall within the third and fourth quartiles.

Market Competitiveness

Our market analysis incorporated four primary market competitors: school districts in Fairfax, Prince William, Arlington, and City of Alexandria. Exhibit B shows the market differential for all 38 surveyed benchmark classifications from LCPS.

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ID

Classification

1 ASST PRINCIPAL - ELEMENTARY 2 ASST PRINCIPAL - MIDDLE 3 ASST PRINCIPAL - HIGH SCHOOL 4 SUPERVISORS 5 PRINCIPAL - ELEMENTARY 6 DIRECTORS 7 PRINCIPAL - INTERMEDIATE/MIDDLE 8 PRINCIPAL - HIGH 9 ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE SUPERINTENDENTS 10 PSYCHOLOGIST 11 SOCIAL WORKER 12 CUSTODIAN 13 CAFETERIA WORKER 14 HEAD CUSTODIAN I 15 BUS ATTENDANT 16 COURIER 17 SECRETARY I 18 TEACHER ASSISTANT 19 GENERAL MAINTENANCE WORKER I 20 BUS DRIVER 21 ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE CLERK 22 CAFETERIA MANAGER 23 DISPATCHER 24 COMPUTER TECHNICIAN, INSTRUCTIONAL 25 PAYROLL SPECIALIST III 26 NETWORK SPECIALIST 27 ACCOUNTANT/ACCOUNTING 28 BENEFITS SPECIALIST 29 FINANCIAL ANALYST 30 MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR, FACILITIES 31 PERSONNEL ANALYST, EMPLOYEE RELATIONS 32 NURSE 33 SENIOR NETWORK ENGINEER 34 ATTENDANCE OFFICER 35 LIBRARIAN 36 SCHOOL COUNSELOR 37 TEACHER BA 38 TEACHER MA

Exhibit B Aggregate Market Survey Results

Pay Grade

Survey Minimum Average % Diff

Survey Midpoint Average % Diff

Survey Maximum

Survey Avg

Average % Diff Range Spread

ADMIN: 1 $ 71,481.29 -0.30% $ 97,475.26 -10.25% $ 123,469.23 -16.97%

72.73%

ADMIN: 2 $ 75,208.79 1.30% $ 101,117.51 -6.92% $ 127,026.23 -12.47%

68.90%

ADMIN: 3 $ 76,702.77 5.86% $ 100,727.75 0.43% $ 124,752.73 -3.23%

62.64%

ADMIN: 3 $ 83,464.75 -2.44% $ 111,748.79 -10.47% $ 140,032.84 -15.87%

67.77%

ADMIN: 4 $ 86,630.44 0.56% $ 113,381.96 -4.78% $ 140,133.48 -8.37%

61.76%

ADMIN: 5 $ 84,786.44 8.99% $ 112,225.93 1.36% 138.879.81 -3.35%

63.80%

ADMIN: 5 $ 89,417.72 4.02% $ 117,034.65 -2.87% $ 144,651.57 -7.64%

61.77%

ADMIN: 6 $ 106,310.49 -6.71% $ 132,441.90 -8.82% $ 158,573.31 -10.28%

49.16%

ADMIN: 7 $ 132,426.15 -24.29% $ 157,766.90 -21.17% $ 183,107.64 -19.01%

38.27%

AUXILIARY: $ 57,086.66 -4.28% $ 79,432.58 -1.99% $ 101,778.50 -0.75%

78.29%

AUXILIARY: $ 56,167.12 -2.60% $ 81,555.14 -4.71% $ 106,943.17 -5.86%

90.40%

CLASSIFIED: 5 $ 25,233.73 -7.05% $ 33,796.02 -0.53% $ 42,358.30 3.00%

67.86%

CLASSIFIED: 6 $

11.62 6.10% $

16.06 9.09% $

20.49 10.71%

76.28%

CLASSIFIED: 7 $ 28,613.20 -6.52% $ 39,586.65 -3.16% $ 50,560.09 -1.35%

76.70%

CLASSIFIED: 8 $

12.94 8.47% $

17.71 12.46% $

22.48 14.60%

73.67%

CLASSIFIED: 9 $ 29,500.45 3.54% $ 40,460.30 7.71% $ 51,420.15 9.95%

74.30%

CLASSIFIED: 9 $

16.95 -12.61% $

22.81 -5.71% $

28.67 -2.01%

69.14%

CLASSIFIED: 9 $

13.94 7.40% $

19.75 8.47% $

25.56 9.04%

83.41%

CLASSIFIED: 10 $ 31,068.75 4.91% $ 41,274.10 12.03% $ 51,479.45 15.83%

65.70%

CLASSIFIED: 11 $

16.80 2.18% $

23.23 5.90% $

29.66 7.87%

76.63%

CLASSIFIED: 12 $ 42,816.07 -14.77% $ 59,030.12 -9.93% $ 75,244.16 -7.36%

75.74%

CLASSIFIED: 12 $

18.36 0.03% $

25.58 3.20% $

32.80 4.89%

78.71%

CLASSIFIED: 12 $ 35,742.47 4.19% $ 49,330.79 8.13% $ 62,919.11 10.22%

76.03%

CLASSIFIED: 13 $ 38,247.26 4.11% $ 49,690.95 13.45% $ 73,267.60 2.23%

91.56%

CLASSIFIED: 14 $ 48,703.95 -14.46% $ 66,798.82 -8.87% $ 84,893.69 -5.90%

74.31%

CLASSIFIED: 15 $ 56,755.51 -24.86% $ 77,693.82 -18.52% $ 98,632.12 -15.16%

73.78%

CLASSIFIED: 16 $ 53,500.75 -10.16% $ 73,799.69 -5.26% $ 94,098.64 -2.66%

75.88%

CLASSIFIED: 16 $ 44,442.11 10.60% $ 61,545.04 14.25% $ 78,647.97 16.18%

76.97%

CLASSIFIED: 16 $ 47,963.70 1.24% $ 65,754.60 6.22% $ 83,545.49 8.86%

74.18%

CLASSIFIED: 16 $ 44,592.55 8.18% $ 59,165.35 15.62% $ 73,738.15 19.56%

65.36%

CLASSIFIED: 16 $ 52,775.05 -8.67% $ 76,737.00 -9.45% $ 94,180.95 -2.75%

78.46%

CLASSIFIED: 17 $

24.67 3.42% $

36.90 0.02% $

49.13 -1.78%

99.16%

CLASSIFIED: 17 $ 54,586.76 -5.18% $ 80,427.50 -7.25% $ 94,582.38 3.57%

73.27%

LICENSED: 2 $ 38,938.47 13.79% $ 55,064.60 16.69% $ 71,190.73 18.19%

62.64%

LICENSED: 4 $ 46,101.99 0.95% $ 68,614.57 -0.74% $ 91,127.15 -1.62%

97.66%

LICENSED: 4 $ 52,732.99 0.82% $ 78,851.93 -3.49% $ 104,970.87 -5.80%

99.06%

TEACHER: BA $ 45,816.50 -1.44% $ 68,454.50 -10.68% $ 81,529.25 6.31%

77.95%

TEACHER: MA $ 51,454.50 -1.68% $ 80,024.75 -18.94% $ 96,537.75 -2.24%

87.62%

# Resp.

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4

Source: Evergreen Solutions, January 2013

The results of the overall pay plan analysis reveal that some jobs are above market while others are behind. Moreover, while some pay grades seem competitive at the certain points in the range, the level of competitiveness is not uniform. This is a common occurrence in

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most public education organizations, especially those utilizing step plans. Some of the plausible explanations for this occurrence include:

Classifications fall in the wrong pay grade; o Classifications may be slotted in a pay grade in order to maintain internal equity with similar positions at the cost of external competitiveness or equity. When grade placement does not factor in external equity, market competitiveness may be hampered when competing to retain or recruit quality employees for a given classification.

Certain pay grades are competitive while others are not due to market changes; o Over the years, market peers may make adjustments to specific areas of their pay structure in order to address internal inequities or to maintain a competitive position relative to the market. Especially in the field of public education, organizations adjust pay grades reserved for principals and teachers with regularity to prevent recruitment and retention issues. This can result in certain areas of a pay structure having different market competitiveness compared to other areas of the pay structure.

Pay ranges are competitive during certain segments and lose competitiveness within others; o When organizations implement step plans as a means for progressing employees through their respective pay grades, it is important to consider the market competitiveness of major steps within each pay grade in addition to the minimum and maximum of each respective pay grade. Since the distance between each step can vary from organization to organization, in addition to the overall number of steps, it is possible for an organization's competitiveness to vary across segments of pay ranges. For instance, if one organization has ten steps within a grade for a certain classification, and a competing organization has a similar minimum and maximum, but 15 steps within a grade for that same classification, employees at each organization will move through their grades at a different pace, and the market competitiveness of their respective salaries will vary depending on which step of the plan they currently occupy.

When joining the distributional or placement analysis with the results of the competitive analysis, the last explanation seems likely. With this concern in mind, we conducted another round of competitiveness analyses for key classifications most likely impacted by variation in market competitiveness within its range: Teachers, Assistant Principals, Principals, and Assistant/Associate Superintendents. Teachers more than any other group suffered from these competiveness challenges due to the structure of their step plan and recent mobility decisions influenced by the economic downturn. Exhibits C and D compare the competitiveness of compensation for Teachers with Bachelor's and Master's degrees. These graphs show that LCPS may fall in line with the market average at the minimum and even rise above the market at the maximum for Teachers with Bachelor's degrees, but LCPS falls below the market when compensating teachers after hiring and until 20 years of experience.

Exhibits E through M show LCPS market competitiveness for additional positions: Assistant Principals at the Elementary, Middle, and High School levels, Supervisors, Principals at the Elementary and Middle School levels, Directors, High School Principals, and Assistant/Associate Superintendents. As these exhibits show, compensation at LCPS for

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many of these positions is not as competitive as one would expect in these key positions. Moreover, the Assistant/Associate Superintendents fall well below the market across the entire estimated range. Comparison to the average midpoint provides insight into the relative market position of a classification assuming full competence and all but one classification falls below market at midpoint. Exhibits H and K show LCPS market competitiveness for Supervisor and Director positions. These exhibits show the Administrator pay grades 3 and 5 and the average market minimum, midpoint, and maximum for comparable director and supervisor positions. As these exhibits show, compensation at LCPS for these positions is very close to market or above market for director and supervisor positions at the minimum, but the supervisors fall noticeably below market when approaching the maximum, while the directors fall approximately 3.4 percent below market at the maximum.

$100,000.00 $90,000.00 $80,000.00 $70,000.00 $60,000.00 $50,000.00 $40,000.00 $30,000.00 $20,000.00 $10,000.00 $-

Exhibit C Compensation for Teacher with Bachelor's Degree

Min

5 YRS 10 YRS 15 YRS 20 YRS 25 YRS 30 YRS

Source: Evergreen Solutions, January 2013

Average LCPS

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$120,000.00

Exhibit D Compensation for Teacher with Master's Degree

$100,000.00

$80,000.00

$60,000.00

$40,000.00

$20,000.00

$-

Min

5 YRS 10 YRS 15 YRS 20 YRS 25 YRS 30 YRS

Source: Evergreen Solutions, January 2013

Average LCPS

Exhibit E Compensation for Assistant Principal ? Elementary

$140,000.00

$120,000.00

$100,000.00

$80,000.00 $60,000.00 $40,000.00

LCPS Average

$20,000.00

$-

Min

Mid

Max

Source: Evergreen Solutions, January 2013

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Exhibit F Compensation for Assistant Principal ? Middle

$140,000.00

$120,000.00

$100,000.00

$80,000.00 $60,000.00 $40,000.00

LCPS Average

$20,000.00

$-

Min

Mid

Max

Source: Evergreen Solutions, January 2013

Exhibit G Compensation for Assistant Principal ? High School

$140,000.00

$120,000.00

$100,000.00

$80,000.00 $60,000.00 $40,000.00

LCPS Average

$20,000.00

$-

Min

Mid

Max

Source: Evergreen Solutions, January 2013

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