Updated 12/19/2009 12:06 AM
Schools Chancellor Announces Pay Raises, Layoffs For DOE
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Department of Education employees learned today that they are getting a raise, but state and city budget cuts could put many of the same employees' jobs at risk.
All of the more than 1,000 non-unionized DOE employees given raises by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein are central employees, instead of unionized teachers or principals.
The raises are also lower than those for other city employees. While Mayor Michael Bloomberg approved a 4-percent pay raise for city employees for both 2008 and 2009, Klein has decided to give DOE employees a 2-percent raise for this year and last year if they make less than $70,000 or a $2,800 raise if they make more than $70,000.
At the same time, Klein reminded DOE employees that the department is facing cuts from both the city and state and that further reductions in staff may soon be necessary.
The chancellor wrote in an email to staff, "It pains me not to give my management team and their support teams the maximum raises. You are hard-working and dedicated employees.... But at a time of layoffs and other cuts to our schools, we must all join together and do what’s right and best for our school system and the students we serve."
Most of the employees affected make more than $70,000 a year and will be getting the flat raise.
• 200 of the employees make under $70,000.
• 575 of the employees make between $70,000 and $100,000.
• 425 of the employees make between $100,000 and $150,000.
• 150 of the employees make between $150,000 and $250,000.
The pay raises will cost the DOE $8 million this year and $4 million next year.
Manhattan Councilman Robert Jackson, the chairman of the City Council Education Committee, said he thinks staffers on the lower end of the salary spectrum should have received the full 4 percent raise, but the high-salaried managers should have taken a pay cut.
"Those individuals who are earning big money, I'm talking about 150,000, 180,000, maybe you need to cut them 10 percent," said Jackson.
However, United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said in a statement Friday, "The Chancellor has the right to make his own judgments about what his managers deserve."
Klein, who makes the DOE's highest salary of $250,000, is not taking his raise, according to a spokesman.