By PAT NEWMAN
pnewman@thecitizennews.com

A $124.1 million budget for the Fayette County School System is expected to be given final approval Friday at 8 a.m. by the board of education.

The 2001 funding plan will not trigger a tax increase, but, “It's too early to speculate” on the millage rate at this time said Jim Stephens, school system financial director.

“We set it at 7 percent this year and [county Tax Commissioner] George Wingo agreed with that,” Stephens said. Millage rates are formally set in September.

Included in the new budget is a unified salary plan for classified employees, or non-teachers. Implementing the plan will cost about $630,000 more than the old pay scale and will give all employees a 3 percent pay raise. The 3 percent salary increase is state-based, according to Dr. John DeCotis, Fayette County's school superintendent.

Teachers also will receive the same state-based 3 percent raise. Inclusion of school principals in the unified salary schedule has not been finalized. If they are fitted into the new plan, DeCotis said their salaries would vary according to their place on the salary scale and would break down by degree level and whether the school was an elementary, middle or high school.

The new plan would eliminate supplements regularly given to principals based on the number of teachers in their schools. Plugging principals into the graduated pay scale may initially cause some disparity, but will eventually even out the playing field, according to financial prognosticators.

DeCotis said drawing up the plan was like fitting a round peg into a square hole. The plan was compiled by Educational Performance Evaluation and Management Systems of America Inc.

It includes 62 steps with each step escalating 3 percent from the previous one. Based on the initial findings, between 98 and 99 percent of the school district's employees fall within the correct salary range.

Salaries for teachers and school administrators in Fayette County are ranked between second and third when compared to neighboring school districts. DeCotis admitted early on that the salary study was not perfect, but added, “It gives us a framework... once you get the rules down, it applies to every new hire."