A $124.1 million

budget for the Fayette County School System is

expected to be given final approval Friday at 8

a.m. by the board of education.

The 2001 funding

plan will not trigger a tax increase, but,

"It's too early to speculate" on the

millage rate at this time said Jim Stephens,

school system financial director.

"We set it at

7 percent this year and [county Tax Commissioner]

George Wingo agreed with that," Stephens

said. Millage rates are formally set in

September.

Included in the new

budget is a unified salary plan for classified

employees, or non-teachers. Implementing the plan

will cost about $630,000 more than the old pay

scale and will give all employees a 3 percent pay

raise. The 3 percent salary increase is

state-based, according to Dr. John DeCotis,

Fayette County's school superintendent.

Teachers also will

receive the same state-based 3 percent raise.

Inclusion of school principals in the unified

salary schedule has not been finalized. If they

are fitted into the new plan, DeCotis said their

salaries would vary according to their place on

the salary scale and would break down by degree

level and whether the school was an elementary,

middle or high school.

The new plan would

eliminate supplements regularly given to

principals based on the number of teachers in

their schools. Plugging principals into the

graduated pay scale may initially cause some

disparity, but will eventually even out the

playing field, according to financial

prognosticators.

DeCotis said

drawing up the plan was like fitting a round peg

into a square hole. The plan was compiled by

Educational Performance Evaluation and Management

Systems of America Inc.

It includes 62

steps with each step escalating 3 percent from

the previous one. Based on the initial findings,

between 98 and 99 percent of the school

district's employees fall within the correct

salary range.

Salaries for

teachers and school administrators in Fayette

County are ranked between second and third when

compared to neighboring school districts. DeCotis

admitted early on that the salary study was not

perfect, but added, "It gives us a

framework... once you get the rules down, it

applies to every new hire."

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