Iowa City school board boosts superintendent's salary

A split Iowa City school board has decided to give Superintendent Stephen Murley a 1.96 percent salary increase for this school year.

The board voted 5-2 Tuesday night to boost Murley's annual pay from $184,000 to $187,606.

The other provisions and benefits in Murley's three-year contract, which runs through June 2013, remain unchanged. That includes the agreement that his salary would be increased another $6,000 if he receives his doctoral degree, something he is working on.

Board President Patti Fields and Tuyet Dorau cast the dissenting votes. Fields said Thursday that she did not believe a pay increase was appropriate given the financial circumstances the district is in.

The district has made budget cuts the past couple of years and is projecting a budget shortfall of several million dollars for next year. Murley also recently announced that the district discovered $2 million in bookkeeping errors and would order an independent audit of the district's accounting operations.

Murley said he's always been of the opinion that a pay increase, or freeze, should be applied to all employees in a district, and he said his 1.96 percent raise equaled the average received by Iowa City school district administrators.

He said those administrators got the same 3 percent total package increase other employee groups received this year, which includes things like health insurance and retirement contributions.

Officials said last spring that salaries made up only 0.79 percent of the 3 percent total package increase the district's approximately 900 teachers received for this school year. Also, many teachers did not receive a wage increase because they were already at the top of their salary schedules.

Asked if she is satisfied with the performance of Murley, who just started his second year with the Iowa City school district, Fields said the board's attorney has advised board members that they cannot publicly make any evaluative statements about Murley at this time.  Murley asked that the board's evaluation occur in closed session, she said.

The board discussed Murley's performance in three closed sessions in late June through early August.

Murley said his first year has been a learning experience but said he believes the district is starting to see improvements occur, particularly in areas like communication and technology.

“My hope is that it's like turning a

flywheel,” he said. “Change starts slowly.”