Sen. Dale Righter (R-Mattoon) doesn't believe raising school administrators' salaries is the best way to help overly burdened public school system, he said during a Senate debate recently.
“It is likely that if HB425 were to become law, we would see at least some administrative salary increases," he said. "For those of you who think that high school administrators don’t quite make enough, this would be a good bill to for you to support."
Presented by Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Chicago), HB425 amends the Regional Superintendent of Schools Article of the School Code as it pertains to salaries. If passed, it carries the potential to increase the annual salaries for regional superintendents and assistant superintendents of Cook County education centers.
Starting salaries of regional superintendents are currently determined by a pay schedule based on their region’s population. Their pay is then adjusted annually according to the consumer price index, although raises may never exceed 2.9 percent.
On the other hand, assistant regional superintendents' salaries can be 75 percent to 90 percent of regional superintendents’ pay, depending on their level of post-secondary education and whether they have a license to supervise.
HB425 would alter the schedule using a new method to calculate population.
"Populations shall be established by subtracting from the total county population the population of a city with 500,000 or more inhabitants, divided by the number of educational service centers in the county," the bill states.
This is not the House's first attempt to change education officials' pay. HB425 is identical to HB5025, which Lightford also sponsored. That bill passed during the 99th General Assembly but was vetoed by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Righter concluded that Illinois simply cannot afford this bill.
“At a time when we’re talking about changing formulas and things we already can’t pay for, I’m not certain that this is the right time for this particular piece of legislation,” Righter said.
The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 35 to 19.
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