this story publish originallyD. by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletter at: ckbe.at/newsletters

Lawrence Township school board members sided with one of their own in a re-election bid after an ongoing dispute over administrative pay reached a boiling point.

Two board members, Wendy Muston and Amy Norman, supported incumbent Crystal Puckett, while two other board members, Jessica Dunn and Marta Lawrence, also backed challenger Eric Young.

The notable split stems from ongoing disagreements among the five board members over compensation and academic achievement. Last year, Muston, Norman and Puckett voted in favor of pay raises for Superintendent Shawn Smith and other administrators, including principals and assistant principals, while Dunn and Lawrence voted against administrative raises and abstained from voting on Smith’s contract.

Dunn and Lawrence also called for greater accountability on academic outcomes and linked the issue to executive salaries.

Disagreement arises Contract negotiations with the Teachers Union and at a time when school districts are facing State control over academics is increasingtogether financial competition from charter schools And state-supported private school vouchers.

Now the issue has come to this point election for the county’s only contested board seat.. School board races are non-partisan and positions have four-year terms.

“Student outcomes will not change without adults making the necessary transformational changes,” Dunn wrote in a Facebook post supporting Young earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Muston and Norman say Puckett brings valuable lived experience to the board.

“I worked with him behind the scenes for four years. “I’ve seen him make tough decisions,” Norman said. “I’ve seen him reach out to all board members to reach out and understand them.”

Leaders of the local teachers union, the Lawrence Education Association, declined to comment on administrative salaries and have not made any endorsements in the race. The district is nearing an agreement with the union on the contract, which could be approved the Monday after election day.

But LEA leaders said executive pay often comes up during contract negotiations, and the Nov. 5 election has only increased awareness of the issue.

“The way the state funds education and pulling vouchers and charters, I think it makes us more aware of how our districts spend money,” said Amanda Rose, co-president of the union. “If we are having to work with less and less, we need to look at our expenses.”

But board members backing the administration are raising hopes that a new working group to review teachers’ working conditions will help address some workload concerns. The district also launched an anonymous survey of teachers last year to get their input on issues important to them.

“I think the district is doing its best to listen and hear our teachers in every way possible,” said Muston, the board president. “There is also a perception in the region that there is divisiveness in the board of directors and that this divisiveness may spread to our district. “And that’s not going to serve our kids very well.”

Board divided on executive pay and success

Board member Lawrence has expressed concerns over the past two years that administrator salaries in the district are higher than other nearby districts, which he believes creates a sharp disparity between administrator and teacher salaries.

Lawrence Township’s average teacher salary of $64,854 for the 2023-24 school year is in the middle of the average salary range of Marion County’s 11 school districts, according to the state’s own reports. gateway platformIt includes salaries and benefits. (Years of experience can affect a district’s average teacher salary; districts with more experienced teacher workforces may potentially have a higher average.)

By comparison, the district’s average non-teaching district-level administrator salary of $176,527 per year is the highest of all Marion County districts, according to Gateway data. Smith’s total compensation of $389,808 for the 2023-24 school year was also the highest school superintendent compensation in Marion County.

“As a businessman, if our region was outperforming all other regions, I could understand paying our executives high salaries,” Lawrence told Chalkbeat. “But we are not. And in many cases, we lag behind other counties by state standards. “This is a problem.”

Approximately 64% of third graders passed the exam the state’s IREAD exam in 2024near the bottom of all school districts in Marion County, for example.

Lawrence and Dunn also abstained from a vote on the superintendent’s contract last August, citing concerns about his pay compared to leaders in other districts.

Instead, two members called for future administrator raises to be tied to student achievement results, but other board members disagreed. The majority of board members alternatively noted the positive academic results: district’s roughly 95% graduation rate.

Muston, Puckett, and Norman defended the difference between average administrator and teacher salaries and noted that administrators should work more days per year. Both groups have received roughly the same rate of wage increases over the past five years.

Muston said when he first came to the board in 2013, turnover among directors was high.

“We have a very stable situation with our management now,” he said. “I think that’s a big part of the success the district has had over these 12-13 years.”

Muston, Puckett and Norman also said they support the superintendent’s salary, noting that under his leadership, enrollment in the district has increased like other districts. struggle to retain students. Norman also praised Smith for his role in the effort. Push the legislature to provide more funding for a last-minute deal during a busy budget session.

The administrator pay controversy, which resurfaced at the Oct. 14 board meeting after the LEA notified the board of concerns about teacher workload, prompted Smith to voice his support for administrators in a letter to administrators the next day. He said he was committed to ensuring administrators and teachers received fair and competitive wages.

“This includes advocating for appropriate raises that reflect both your input and the economic realities of our region,” the letter said. “Regardless of any board statements you may have heard to the contrary, my position on this matter remains unchanged.”

Puckett said the issues raised by Dunn and Lawrence are important, but “it is becoming increasingly difficult to have constructive dialogue.” He said he prefers to use academic and payment information “as a flashlight, not a hammer.”

“It’s almost an incomplete framework when it comes to the conversation around (the town of) Lawrence,” he said. “Are we doing anything good?”

Puckett’s opponent, Young, did not respond to requests for comment. But in a Facebook post after the Oct. 14 meeting, he said he was an independent thinker who would ask questions and analyze data.

Norman, who represents the district’s Castleton area, said all board members want student achievement to increase but hope “we can figure out how to get there in a respectful way.”

The election is on November 5. Early voting at the City-County Building is open until Nov. 4. additional early voting sites Open from 26 October to 3 November.

This story has been updated to describe the average executive salary in more detail.

Amelia Pak-Harvey covers Indianapolis and Lawrence Township schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at: [email protected]