NASD Interim Superintendent Joyce Johnson said though she wasn’t working for the district when the current salary schedules were adopted, she stands behind them.

“The board approved the salary schedule, and we follow what the schedule dic-tates for each position,” John-son said.

The state mandates a base salary for teachers and paraprofessionals.

Paraprofessionals include counselors, teaching assistants, librarians and coaches, Johnson said.

The NASD salary schedule for teachers and paraprofessionals gives increases based on years of experience and level of professional or educational degrees.

Teacher salaries range from $31,000 to $67,000, depending on years of experience, professional certification and educational degrees.

Barnett said coaches, choir and band directors and supervisors of programs, such as the student newspaper and student council, earn supplements to their salaries.

He said there’s a number of other small ways to earn additional pay, such as working crowd control at football games.

There are also reasons beyond the control of the local school board or district for some salaries, Barnett said.

For example, the salary of the ROTC teacher at Natchez High School, who earns $85,000, is paid in part by the U.S. Air Force and correlates to his military rank, Barnett said.

The second-highest earning teacher, who will take home $74,000, also receives a supplement because he is head coach of Natchez High football team.

Most of the other highly paid teachers have been with the district for close to 35 years, he said.

Johnson said NASD administrative salaries are not out of line with other districts.