NATCHEZ — The Natchez-Adams School District will spend approximately $23 million on salaries and benefits this year, including nearly $900,000 for 10 administrators who each bring home more than $80,000 a year.

Those numbers, Superintendent Frederick Hill said, will decrease significantly next year because of district-wide budget cuts made in order to balance the district’s budget, which currently has $911,906 more in spending than it receives in revenues.

The district plans on spending $22,428,392 in salaries and benefits in the upcoming fiscal year, which is $614,985 less than what it will spend this year.

The $550,468 in cuts district officials identified last week includes a two-day unpaid leave for all administrators at Braden Administrative building.

Another cost-cutting measure being considered is an additional three-day unpaid leave for all district employees, including administrators, which would save the district an additional $300,763.

Hill said all district employees, programs and costs — including administrative salaries — were examined when deciding what to cut from the budget.

“I wouldn’t dare make those kinds of cuts without putting myself and other administrators out there, too” Hill said. “There are some administrative positions that we have to have because of state and federal mandates, but I don’t believe we’re top-heavy at all.

“No one department or area is safe when you’re talking about cutting this much, because we have to look at every dollar being spent.”

School board President Wayne Barnett said he believes administrators in the district are paid accordingly but agrees any cuts made in the district should also include those positions.

“The superintendent is looking to find cuts wherever he can, and what we’ve been presented have really started at the top and gone down,” Barnett said. “When he’s talking about furloughing employees, that’s days the superintendent and other administrators are going to be home without pay along with everyone else in the district.

“It makes it a whole lot easier to face other employees when you know that everybody is in this thing together.”

Apples to apples

At NASD, the top 10 administrators earn between $80,046 and $133,500.

Those salaries represent the superintendent, assistant superintendent, special education director, four principals, federal programs director, athletic director and instructional improvement coordinator.

In Lamar County, district administrators can earn from $47,000 to $110,000.

In the Clinton Public School District, top administrators make salaries ranging from $62,096 to $149,350, for the superintendent.

Hill said comparisons with other Mississippi school districts in the area are something he’s currently working on to present the board.

Barnett said a side-by-side comparison of what the district pays administrators compared to other districts would ultimately be beneficial.

“We need to have that comparison so we can see if our people are overpaid or underpaid and then make that competitive to other schools our size for when we go out recruiting,” Barnett said. “I think knowing how we stack up compared to other schools our size is something we need to look at.”

Board member David Troutman said the board got a glimpse into administrative salary comparison when hiring Hill last year.

“We looked at those things when we were getting a new superintendent, and we seemed to be inline with the rest of the state,” Troutman said. “I would think a further comparison would be very beneficial.”

On the right path?

Last year the district asked taxpayers for an additional $565,000 because of a decrease in state funding.

This year, the state will provide the district with $15,080,189 — a $330,057 decrease from what the state gave the district last year.

The state has been underfunding the district for years, leading the district to deplete its 16th Section land interest fund.

The depletion of that fund and the continued reduction in state funding are forcing district officials to begin cutting from its budget.

But even after district officials have identified $851,231 in cuts, the budget is still $60,675 over its revenues.

Board members decided Thursday that they would ask taxpayers for additional funds again this year but haven’t yet decided on how much the district will seek.

Board member Thelma Newsome said the tax increase isn’t something she wants the district to continue relying on in the future.

“I’m definitely opposed to asking for a tax increase, but I don’t know exactly what we can do to fix that other than just looking more critically at what we’re doing with the budget,” Newsome said. “When the state keeps cutting us but asks us to continue doing everything we’re doing and more, we have to find ways to make it work.”

At the board’s next monthly meeting on June 13, Hill will present the board with two budget proposals — one that includes an additional $60,000 in revenue from a tax increase and the savings if three days were cut from teacher salaries and another proposal that includes an even higher tax increase and fewer cuts to teacher salaries.

Troutman said he is pleased with the work Hill and his staff have done working to cut the budget while also not sacrificing educational opportunities for students.

“I think Dr. Hill has done a good job with putting everything on the table, including administrators, and saying, ‘It’s going to hurt us all, but we’re all in this together,’” Troutman said. “The last thing any of us want to do is raise taxes, but it might be something we have to do in the best interest of the children.

“We hate to do it, but if it’s our last choice after cutting close to $900,000 and spending $1 million less, than that’s what we have to do.”

Hill said he believes the key to ensure the district doesn’t wind up in a similar position again in the years ahead is to increase enrollment in schools, which would boost the amount the state provides the district, or continue cutting from the budget.

“We have got to get a good product out there to offer to the community in order to increase enrollment and get some of those state dollars back,” Hill said. “And I feel confident we’re on the right track to making that happen.

“But if our revenues continue to drop, we’re going to have to keep making cuts — and that includes administrators.”