Marysville teachers allege salary spiking

Marysville teachers are challenging what they say are salary spikes for Superintendent Gay Todd and two other top administrators that will boost their retirement pay.

The Marysville Unified Teacher Association sent notices last month to more than 400 of its members, citing a unanimous July 24 vote by Marysville Joint Unified School District trustees that boosted pay to Todd and assistant superintendents Mark Allgire and Ramiro Carreon.

Teachers are asked to attend the Nov. 13 school board meeting when the union is expected to ask about the salaries — along with financial forecasts by Allgire that the union said have been wrong.

The Nov. 13 meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the board room at 1919 B St. in Marysville at the school district headquarters.

The higher pay for administrators comes after pay cuts for teachers, who also face high costs for health insurance, union vice president Inge Schlussler said Wednesday.

"Morale is really bad," Schlu sler said.

"There's nothing else that can be cut," she said of the school district reducing services. "The students are suffering."

But Trustee Frank Crawford said the accounts of pay boosts and inaccurate financial forecasts are wrong.

"There was no spiking," he said. "There were no large salary increases."

The notice said Todd's salary, which is used to calculate her retirement pay, increased from $168,963 to $196,059 by making benefits such as a monthly $400 car allowance part of the superintendent's pay, according to the union.

"This $27,096 in perks does not include the $20,136 the district pays for her health insurance," the notice states.

Marysville Joint Unified said the salary-related action makes pay more transparent and is revenue neutral, the union added.

"Everything is done in open session," Todd said Wednesday. "We should wait and see what they're going to do," she said of the Nov. 13 meeting.

She said Allgire, assistant superintendent for business services, is researching numbers the union provides contending that he predicted two years ago that school district funds would be a negative $11.5 million. Marysville Joint Unified actually had an $11.2 million positive balance, the union added.

Todd said the numbers the union provides don't appear to be accurate. The district has to make financial projections based on what is known. Marysville Joint Unified has to have a budget by June, Todd added, while the state can take its time to approve a budget.

Steve White, president of the Marysville Unified Teacher Association, said the numbers the union provides are accurate and that Allgire's financial projections have been wrong every year.

Allgire could not be reached for comment.

White also said that the July vote by trustees involving pay for the three school district administrators represents salary spiking.

Crawford said he taught school for 38 years and spent four years as a Marysville teacher association representative.

"I probably screamed that same type of banter when I was on the other side," he said of the union claims.

Crawford said the teachers assertion that school district is sitting on $11 million is puzzling.

"I just don't get it," he said.

"I've never really, really understood the semantics of how they can be so far apart," Crawford said of the union and school district statements about finances. "I'm not a numbers cruncher, and Mr. Allgire is an excellent one."