School employees complain about pay compression

Oakleaf Junior High food service worker Nicki Romig: “I’m kind of appalled at the fact that somebody coming in tomorrow is going to make as much as I am, and now we’re equal.”

Two Clay County School District employees told the school board that newly approved labor agreements unfairly penalize veteran employees. The workers said the new contracts, one for teachers and a second for support personnel, compensate new employees at the same rate as veteran workers.

Joel Miller said that when he started as a teacher at Oakleaf High School in 2007, minimum teacher pay was $35,000, and today, starting teachers make $47,500.

My pay today is $47,841,” he said.  “There is something wrong when I have been highly effective every year and I make $341 more than minimum teacher pay.”

Oakleaf Junior High food service worker Nicki Romig told board members that she has worked on the campus for nearly 18 years. “I’m kind of appalled at the fact that somebody coming in tomorrow is going to make as much as I am, and now we’re equal,” she said.