Salary increases planned in local school system

JACKSON, Tenn. — The Jackson-Madison County School System plans to increase salaries for employees.

Superintendent Dr. Marlon King is reviewing the Fiscal Year 2023 to improve compensation for employees. That includes teachers, support staff, substitute teachers and coaches.

“Our board came out of their retreat with a new vision, and that vision was ‘best by any measure.’ And that was essentially Dr. King’s marching orders. And so in order to be the best by any measure, there’s some things you have to do like competitive pay,” said Greg Hammond, the Chief Public Information Officer for the school system.

King has spent the last year and a half restructuring and reviewing the budget to see how the school system can be more competitive as a district.

“It can’t happen overnight, but what you’re going to see over the next couple of months is an incremental change in the salary schedule, the supplements that we’re able to offer our coaches and teachers,” Hammond said.

The goal of salary increases is to not only pay employees more, but also to encourage retention and get veteran employees to want to stay longer.

“If you look around the state, we can do better in terms of where we rank in teacher salaries, in compensation. So the conversation was the first step. That second step was to pass a continuation budget,” Hammond said.

The school board will continue to work closely with its executive leadership team and Madison County Finance Director Karen Bell to come up with the best budget for school system employees.

“Around September is when you’ll start to hear some budget amendments, and so these conversations will actually start to take shape and be reflected in the budget,” Hammond said.

To stay up-to-date with the Jackson-Madison County School System and they’re progress, click here.

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