THE MCS TAXZILLA EATS THE CITY OF MEMPHIS
August 15, 2008
I have finally received answers to my open records request to the Memphis City School System concerning salaries and benefits for the some 16,500 Memphis School System employees. The report is some 1335 pages and I am hoping to publish the full report in the near future and post it on the internet. I had to file suit in Chancery Court to get a reply but after I filed suit I received good cooperation from Van Turner of their legal department and I thank him for his cooperation in this matter.
I have published 10 pages of this report below to give you some feel for the salary and benefit levels of this huge bureauracry that has a budget of over $1 billion dollars.
On page 1 you will see Classroom Teachers/K3 in a salary range from $45,000 to $55,000.
On page 2 you will see K3 teachers with Masters degrees in the range of $65,000.
On page 3 you will see non-union educational assistants in the $17,000 range.
On page 4 you will see some striving teachers who are defined in #9 below.
On page 5 you will see some teachers with Ph.D’s but not paid much better than the teachers with masters degrees.
On page 6 you will find ROTC instructors that are paid up to $75,000.
On page 7 you will see special education principals in the $90,000 range.
On page 8 you will find elementary school principals in the high $80,000 range.
On page 9 you will find High School principals at $100,000.
On page 10 are the totals for the first 1094 pages, some $637 million dollars and that is not the total which is over $700 million.
I have not had time to seek out those with salaries well over $100,000 but I did find Sybille S Noble, late of the Shelby County government, as Chief Contracting Office at a salary of $143,655.
In looking at the ten pages I asked some questions about the codes and benefits and got the following answers.
1. Question: Looking, for example, at page 1, the second line, classroom teachers, I notice two lines for each teacher. I assume that this is the range (low/high for this job). Is that correct?
Response: The top row is the current year salary for the employee based on an assumption that the employee works a full school year. In other words, it is not the actual amount paid; instead, just an annual projection. The second row is the projected salary for the 2008-09 school year based on contracted salary increases for the number of years of experience, education, and certification. It is not a low/high range for the job.
2. Question about FICA. Response: FICA is the 7.65% of salary that the division pays. The employee pays a matching amount.
3. Question: Under retirement, this amount is what the MCS pays (about 6.23%) and I assume that the employee pays a matchding amount into the pension fund.
Response: In 2007-08, MCS paid 6.24% for certificated employees and 9.34% for non-certificated staff. The rate changes for 2008-09 and is factored in the projected amount. These dollars are the district’s match. The employee must contribute a state mandated rate of 5%.
4. Question : Under unemployment, this amount ($54) is what the MCS pays and there is no matching amount from the employee.
Response: Correct.
5. Question: I notice that some employees have a BS degree and some have M A degree (masters?) but the M A get paid less. Is this a question of seniority or what?
Response: The difference is due to the years of service. You will notice on the top row for each employee that it begins with a salary grade and step which may read 300 10 indicating that this is a 10 month teacher with a BS degree and ten years of experience. If it reads 310 10, then it equates to a 10 month teacher with a MA degree and 10 years experience.
6. Question: What does the last line (PCT) mean? Most have 1.0 but some have .94.
It means that 94% of the employee’s salary is charged to that particular coding (regular instruction). In this example, the other 6% is coded to project 040 BEP 2.0 for working 30 additional minutes each day (extended day).
7. Question: Do the employees have the option to choose to have benefit deductions classfied as tax-exempt allowing contributions to be tax exempt from federal withholding tax? In other words health insurance premiums are deducted from salary pre tax.
Response: Our insurance is a ‘cafeteria’ plan; and therefore, is tax exempt.
8. Question: What does C and B indicate?
Response: C indicates that the employee has opted to be paid over a 12 month period (deferred payments) and B indicates that the employee has chosen to be paid in 10 months (normal work year).
9. Question: What is the difference between a striving classroom teacher and a BS teacher?
Response: In 2007-08, certain schools were identified by the state as requiring additional support and the new State BEP 2.0 funds were used to provide that assistance. These schools worked the extra 30 minutes a day and were paid for extended day.
10. Question: What is a MA + 45 teacher that seems to be better paid than MA teacher?
Response: They have received so many hours of credit in a doctoral program but have not received the degree.
11. Question: What is an Ed S degree teacher as opposed to the others?
Response: Education Specialist degree, which is more than a masters but less than a doctorate.
12. Question: Are educational assistants part time? What do they do? How many hours in a year do they work? Response: Many are considered part-time since they only work 4 hours per day, appx. 720 hours. Some work 5 hours, and others work a full school day. They assist teachers in the regular classroom while others assist with special education students.
13. Question: How many hours in a year do full time teachers work?
Response: The school day is 7 ¼ hours, which includes lunch. The teacher is paid for 200 days (180 classroom days, 5 in-service, 4 administrative, 1 parent-teacher day, and 10 vacation days).
Click here to see some representative pages from the 1332 page report on the salary and benefits of the some 16,500 Memphis City School employees
August 15, 2008
I have finally received answers to my open records request to the Memphis City School System concerning salaries and benefits for the some 16,500 Memphis School System employees. The report is some 1335 pages and I am hoping to publish the full report in the near future and post it on the internet. I had to file suit in Chancery Court to get a reply but after I filed suit I received good cooperation from Van Turner of their legal department and I thank him for his cooperation in this matter.
I have published 10 pages of this report below to give you some feel for the salary and benefit levels of this huge bureauracry that has a budget of over $1 billion dollars.
On page 1 you will see Classroom Teachers/K3 in a salary range from $45,000 to $55,000.
On page 2 you will see K3 teachers with Masters degrees in the range of $65,000.
On page 3 you will see non-union educational assistants in the $17,000 range.
On page 4 you will see some striving teachers who are defined in #9 below.
On page 5 you will see some teachers with Ph.D’s but not paid much better than the teachers with masters degrees.
On page 6 you will find ROTC instructors that are paid up to $75,000.
On page 7 you will see special education principals in the $90,000 range.
On page 8 you will find elementary school principals in the high $80,000 range.
On page 9 you will find High School principals at $100,000.
On page 10 are the totals for the first 1094 pages, some $637 million dollars and that is not the total which is over $700 million.
I have not had time to seek out those with salaries well over $100,000 but I did find Sybille S Noble, late of the Shelby County government, as Chief Contracting Office at a salary of $143,655.
In looking at the ten pages I asked some questions about the codes and benefits and got the following answers.
1. Question: Looking, for example, at page 1, the second line, classroom teachers, I notice two lines for each teacher. I assume that this is the range (low/high for this job). Is that correct?
Response: The top row is the current year salary for the employee based on an assumption that the employee works a full school year. In other words, it is not the actual amount paid; instead, just an annual projection. The second row is the projected salary for the 2008-09 school year based on contracted salary increases for the number of years of experience, education, and certification. It is not a low/high range for the job.
2. Question about FICA. Response: FICA is the 7.65% of salary that the division pays. The employee pays a matching amount.
3. Question: Under retirement, this amount is what the MCS pays (about 6.23%) and I assume that the employee pays a matchding amount into the pension fund.
Response: In 2007-08, MCS paid 6.24% for certificated employees and 9.34% for non-certificated staff. The rate changes for 2008-09 and is factored in the projected amount. These dollars are the district’s match. The employee must contribute a state mandated rate of 5%.
4. Question : Under unemployment, this amount ($54) is what the MCS pays and there is no matching amount from the employee.
Response: Correct.
5. Question: I notice that some employees have a BS degree and some have M A degree (masters?) but the M A get paid less. Is this a question of seniority or what?
Response: The difference is due to the years of service. You will notice on the top row for each employee that it begins with a salary grade and step which may read 300 10 indicating that this is a 10 month teacher with a BS degree and ten years of experience. If it reads 310 10, then it equates to a 10 month teacher with a MA degree and 10 years experience.
6. Question: What does the last line (PCT) mean? Most have 1.0 but some have .94.
It means that 94% of the employee’s salary is charged to that particular coding (regular instruction). In this example, the other 6% is coded to project 040 BEP 2.0 for working 30 additional minutes each day (extended day).
7. Question: Do the employees have the option to choose to have benefit deductions classfied as tax-exempt allowing contributions to be tax exempt from federal withholding tax? In other words health insurance premiums are deducted from salary pre tax.
Response: Our insurance is a ‘cafeteria’ plan; and therefore, is tax exempt.
8. Question: What does C and B indicate?
Response: C indicates that the employee has opted to be paid over a 12 month period (deferred payments) and B indicates that the employee has chosen to be paid in 10 months (normal work year).
9. Question: What is the difference between a striving classroom teacher and a BS teacher?
Response: In 2007-08, certain schools were identified by the state as requiring additional support and the new State BEP 2.0 funds were used to provide that assistance. These schools worked the extra 30 minutes a day and were paid for extended day.
10. Question: What is a MA + 45 teacher that seems to be better paid than MA teacher?
Response: They have received so many hours of credit in a doctoral program but have not received the degree.
11. Question: What is an Ed S degree teacher as opposed to the others?
Response: Education Specialist degree, which is more than a masters but less than a doctorate.
12. Question: Are educational assistants part time? What do they do? How many hours in a year do they work? Response: Many are considered part-time since they only work 4 hours per day, appx. 720 hours. Some work 5 hours, and others work a full school day. They assist teachers in the regular classroom while others assist with special education students.
13. Question: How many hours in a year do full time teachers work?
Response: The school day is 7 ¼ hours, which includes lunch. The teacher is paid for 200 days (180 classroom days, 5 in-service, 4 administrative, 1 parent-teacher day, and 10 vacation days).
Click here to see some representative pages from the 1332 page report on the salary and benefits of the some 16,500 Memphis City School employees
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