“The elephant in the room” addressed during budget presentation

Oconee’s superintendent of education, Dr. Michael Thorsland, mounted a defense to the pay raise which the district is pursuing for its employees. During a budget presentation, Thorsland last night was asked specifically to account for the financial impact that a 4% raise would have on the district’s highest paid employees, the administrators. “When you look at the difference between a teacher’s pay and an assistant administrator’s pay, when you look at the daily rate, it’s not much at all,” Thorsland said in response to questions raised by County Councilman Paul Cain. The superintendent stressed the importance to peg administrators’ salaries higher than classroom teachers so there remains the incentive for teachers to qualify to be future administrators. District officials admitted to county councilmen last night that part of their motivation to ensure that classroom teachers also receive 4% pay raises is so that they won’t be motivated to consider striking, as some teachers elsewhere in the country have done.