County Commissioner Tim Boyd, who heads the commission's education committee, said he was startled to find that the salaries of administrators in the county schools totals almost $7 million.
"And that does not include all their support personnel," he said.
Commissioner Boyd said, "I am not going to be voting for additional money for the schools unless they can justify these salaries. And I don't think they can."
Supt. Rick Smith is asking the commission to vote for a 40-cent property tax increase for the schools.
The education chairman said he showed the salary list to two principals "and they were shocked." He said, "They literally had tears in their eyes."
He said, "Something is wrong when the secretary for Rick Smith is paid over $63,000 and a teacher/coach at Sale Creek with 15 years experience is making $45,000. We have a kindergarten teacher at CSLA who is just outstanding, and she is making far less than these central office personnel who have no direct contact with the students in the classroom."
He added, "I'm tired of our best principals and teachers going into the central office. We need to keep them working with our children and affecting their lives."
Commissioner Boyd said he has an especial problem with a $63,932 allotment to Sandy Hughes, HCEA representative. Ms. Hughes is a former teacher who is paid by the schools for her work with the teacher association. Commissioner Boyd said, "I don't like unions, and I don't like the taxpayers of Hamilton County paying for this union representative."
He said pay for campus support personnel totals over $338,000 "and I don't even know what they do."
The commissioner said the pay for the human resources officials tops $485,000 and that of the exceptional education leaders is above $658,000.
He noted that two I Zone grant personnel get a total of $183,000.
Here is the salary list:
Rick Smith Supt. $195,320
Tom McConnell ROTC instructor $120,896
Lee McDade Asst. Supt. $120,144
Robert Sharpe Asst. Supt. $117, 278
Marvin Lott Director Secondary Education $114,744
Bill Kelly Director Of Standards, Assessment and Accounting $114,744
Stacy Stewart Asst. Supt. Human Resources $111,066
Gary Waters Operations and Maintenance $111,066
Amiee Randolph Director of Magnet Schools $109,542
Christie Jordan Director of Finance $106,074
Steven Holmes Director of Secondary Education $106,074
Gail Morgan Director of Secondary Education $106,074
Karen Hollis Director of Title I Secondary Education $105,224
Brenda Benford Director of Title 1 $103,945
Ava Warren Director of Human Resources $103,945
Preston Gonter Director of Title 1 $101,731
Margaret Abernathy Director of Exceptional Education $100,926
Leon Rash Purchasing Director $100,459
David Cowan Vocational Education Director $100,459
Leandrea Ware School Improvement I Zone Grant Director $99,541
Jane Barker Extended Services Director $99,232
Janice Hixson Human Resources Director $95,737
Martha Curtis Human Resources Director $94,936
Stacey Roddy Campus Support Director $94,166
Wendy Jung Administrator of Special Assignment $93,093
Marsha Drake Student Services Director $91,902
Jamason Parris Campus Support Director $90,531
Harold Thrower Electrical and Maintenance $88,945
Becky Coleman Campus Support Director $88,158
Daniel Floyd Architect $87,609
Willeata Kendrick Exceptional Education Supervisor $87,107
Patricia Kinsey IT Business Systems Analyst $85,892
Brian Seay Standards and Assessment Accounting Programmer $85,892
Ben Coulter Transportation Supervisor $85,892
Johnny Manis JROTC Military Property Custodian $85,855
Carolyn Childs Child Nutrition Director $85,155
Nancy Reed Campus Support Coordinator $85,072
Alvena Kauffman Title 1 Coordinator $85,072
Matthew Webb School Improvement I Zone Grant Coordinator $83,968
Mary Voss Exceptional Education Supervisor $83,692
Ronald Smith Building and Grounds Manager $83,600
Gregory Higgins Maintenance and Energy Supervisor $83,600
Sheryl Randolph School Improvement I Zone Grant Coordinator $83,418
Gloria Moore Campus Support Title 2 Coordinator $83,347
Mitzi Delker Exceptional Education Supervisor $83,347
Rose Hutton Exceptional Education Supervisor $83,030
Jill Reese Campus Support Coordinator $81,967
James Maida JROTC Operations NCO $81,678
Jeremy Witt Capital Maintenance $80,927
Penny Murray-Au Human Resources Coordinator $80,254
Delane Gamble Exceptional Education Supervisor $78,391
Charles Reynolds Accounting Manager $78,351
Kathy Petros Exceptional Education Supervisor $77,869
Michael Ballard IT TSA-IS Training and Development $76,094
Karen Glenn Title 1 Program Director $75,215
William Kinnaman IT Systems Administrator $72,954
Ronnie Kramer IT Computer Technician $72,930
Rachel Elliott Accounting Manager $72,111
Sheryl Rogers School Health Manager $71,821
Hua Lv Data Research Analyst Standards Assessment and Accounting $70,858
Pamela Blackwell Educational Diagnostician $69,718
Stephen Perrin Auditor $68,858
Kimberly Myers Accounting Manager $68,858
Daniel Diener Child Nutrition Manager Accounting $68,858
Charity Daan IT Data Base Administrator $68,328
Amelia Jarvis Accounts Payable Supervisor $67,846
Darlene Viall Payroll Supervisor $67,846
Krista Torrance Employee Benefits Supervisor $67,774
Amy Piazza Speech and Language Pathologist $66,864
Kelly Mayer IT Senior Programmer Analyst $66,690
David McNish IT Network Engineer $65,919
Christina Moore Exceptional Education Supervisor $65,096
Kathy Edgemon Budget Coordinator $63,943
Sandy Hughes, HCEA Representative $63,932
Carol McDowell Executive Assistant to the Supt. $63,027
Anjelika Riano Title 1 Community Services Coordinator $62,681
Timothy Harper Safety and Compliance Manager $61,370
Cheryl Paul-Ladd Data Specialist Standards Assessment and Accounting $61,268
Antonio Martin Senior IT Program Analyst $61,268
Marion Keiss Educational Diagnostician $61,039
Ann Bates Executive Assistant to the School Board $60,184