After hearing a comparison of salaries at similar schools on Monday, the North Platte public school board voted to give administrators as much as a 1% raise for the 2025-26 school year.

The board previously discussed the raises in a closed-door session on Mar. 27 at a committee of the whole meeting.

The administrators include principals, assistant principals, directors and deans of students. Last year, the board approved increases of as much as 2.73%, amounting to a total increase in administrative salaries of $98,000. Supt. Todd Rhodes said that the final increase was closer to 2.3%, since the raise was not uniform for all administrators. Rhodes said each administrator is evaluated individually, with their salary determined on their performance evaluation.

In January, the board decided to keep Rhodes’s salary unchanged at $240,000, at his request. The board has not yet finalized a projected increase in teacher salaries for 2025-26.

Director of Finance Stuart Simpson presented a comparison of administrative salaries of North Platte and seven other like-size districts — Scottsbluff, Lexington, Hastings, Kearney, Columbus, Norfolk, and Fremont. The districts have enrollments ranging from 3,242 to 6,066 students. North Platte’s enrollment is 3,730.

Simpson said the North Platte high school principal earns $163,712, compared to a midpoint salary in that array of schools of $179,520. The special education director earns $166,085, while the midpoint is $191,903. The activity director’s annual salary is $131,561, compared to a midpoint of $159,148. Assistant principals in North Platte earn $149,922, which is above the array’s midpoint salary of $139,019. Elementary principals in North Platte receive $135,225 per year, while the midpoint salary is $149,151.

Board member Justin Thompson was thankful for the comparison but would have liked more time to digest the information to make a better decision. Board member Cindy O’Connor agreed with Thompson.

Board member JoAnn Lundgreen appreciated that the board was trying to be fiscally responsible but wanted to compensate administrators appropriately. Board member Skip Altig said the board should strive to get salaries closer to the mid-point, or above. Board member Angela Blaesi thanked Rhodes for his evaluation to determine the raises, saying she felt they ensure the administrators are fairly compensated for their hard work.

President Emily Garrick thanked Simpson for the comparison, saying it changed her mind about what percentage to vote on.

The board’s vote was unanimous to authorize the increase.

In other business, the board unanimously approved changes in the 2000 series of policies, specifically policies 2002, 2006, 2007, and 2010.

Policy 2002 was revised to clarify the process for electing board officers if the vote is repeatedly tied. The policy allows the tie to be settled by a coin flip or drawing a name from a hat.

Policy 2006 was updated to change the wording from “Strongly encourage the complainant (a parent, student or teacher) to reduce his or her concerns to writing” to “Strongly encourage the complainant to provide his or her concerns in writing.” Also, an approval form for reimbursements and training requests was added to this policy.

Policy 2007 added a form to the approval process for board members to attend training and submit reimbursements.

Policy 2010 was amended to allow any board member to request an topic be added to the agenda, while granting the board president the final authority over the agenda.

Legislature

Skip Altig discussed legislation at the statehouse. He said is a waiting game to see what bills will be passed that impact the district. He said LB 653 has been prioritized; pertaining to Nebraska’s enrollment option program. It aims to limit the denial of student applications with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), denials that are currently allowed if the receiving district does not have adequate space or staff.

Also, Altig said LB 645 is moving along, which focuses on how teacher retirement is funded to balance contributions between employees and the district.

He said Gov. Jim Pillen has said he will not sign a “Christmas Tree” bill, but he would not be surprised if one emerges. A “Christmas Tree” bill is legislation that is passed, usually late in the session, with other bills attached, somewhat similar to ornaments on a Christmas tree.

Altig also said a bill might emerge to require the district to pay for the state-mandated American College Test (ACT) that Juniors take every year.

Enrollment, finances

Simpson said enrollment has remained the same for the last few months, down 119 students from the official September enrollment. Of those, 52 were early graduates in December. And, he said while the district is still tapping into financial reserves, they received a large payment from the state, so the current deficit is not as large as last year at this time.

Routine approvals

The consent agenda consisted of 19 items. Items on the consent agenda are considered routine and are approved by one motion. Items included approval of the minutes of the March 10 regular meeting and the March 27 committee of the whole meeting, as well as nine resignations, seven new hire contracts, and the financial claims and reports.

The March Bulldogs (students) of the month are Addison Uehling and Phinehas Wiezorek.

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