The leader of the county’s second largest school district is set to get an 11 percent raise.
Members of the Clark-Pleasant school board will consider a new three-year contract next week for superintendent Patrick Spray, which includes a raise from his current salary of $144,000 to $160,000. Other terms of his contract, including life and health insurance, were not changed.
Spray is well-deserving of a raise because of the work he has done for the school district, including leading this year’s redistricting and planning for future growth, school board president E. Curtis Harris said.
Spray also did not get a raise when his contract was last renewed in 2015 because at the time, officials wanted more time to justify he was deserving of an increase after joining the school district in 2013, Harris said. At the time, the contract included a raise of 2.8 percent per year, starting this year.
The raise also puts Spray’s salary more in line with the superintendents of other local school districts and ones of a similar size throughout central Indiana, Harris said.
“We knew it was time to reward him for his work and pay him similar to our peers,” Harris said.
School board members did an analysis of their superintendent’s salary, and those in other nearby and similar school districts. Spray’s pay was low on the scale, Harris said.
For example, the superintendent of Franklin schools, which has an enrollment of 5,002, is $154,400. By comparison, Clark-Pleasant’s enrollment was 6,441.
Spray was also making less than other similarly-sized school districts, including Plainfield, with 5,373 students whose superintendent makes $174,972, and Speedway, which has an enrollment of 1,721 and their leader is paid $153,000.
By not giving Spray a raise in the past, the school district was able to save money, and teachers also continued getting raises during that time, Harris said.
Schools are competitive, and Clark-Pleasant wanted to make sure it was working to keep its leader, Harris said.
Spray has helped with the school district’s finances, including restructuring debt so payments were more manageable, has managed growth without building a new school, which would have cost millions, and is continuing to plan for future growth, Harris said.
“He has been a leader of that, and because of that, it was time to do something to make sure we keep him on our team,” Harris said.
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Here is a look at other superintendent’s salaries:
Center Grove: $187,622
Clark-Pleasant: $144,000, proposed to increase to $160,000
Franklin: $154,400
Plainfield: $174,972
Speedway: $153,000
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