Um five or what's the Yeah. What is the scale? Oh, so this that's a great question too. So it's a scale from 0 to five. So five being the highest. Luckily not 10. Yes, that's good. Um so middle school and then the high school data. Um, again, as Superintendent McCoy mentioned, you know, we take this data along with the panorama data that we're getting from students, um, and kind of put it together to look at how it's all interacting. And I think that we see in both of our surveys that our black and African-American students are reporting kind of a lower sense of belonging. Um, so just continue conversations that we're trying to have with the leadership team and with building leaders on how we can continue to improve this Um, so you know, it's obvious that there is an issue and I think that we're all really committed to trying to continue to figure this out.
Um so I can bring it up. Are you got it? Are you trying air p? Yeah, I wouldn't. Yeah, I don't mind. Before we jump into that, um, can I make a request, please? Can we please turn the air off or at least like it's a little chilly at least over on this half? I don't know how y'all are feeling over there. You don't need a key. I'm trying to find the PowerPoint. Sorry, I linked it, didn't I? There it is. We'll just kind of slide down. Yeah. Okay. I think so. Yeah. Okay. It's a little wonky because it's the iPad. All right. Hi everybody. I'm Dominic Ruth. I'm the director of finance. I know I've uh met all of you briefly at least. So uh thanks for your time. Um I was just presented this uh or I was given this presentation this morning.
Um, and to, you know, address the situation, but these data points are helpful in shining a light on the fact that we need to be doing a better job. And I think we are all committed to doing a better job on that as well. And you might have said this, I was just commuting from Boston. It seems brutal. um are are we getting their voice and feedback like the actual students who are experiencing this, not the individuals because it's anonymous, but making sure that we're not saying like here's a great solution, but we're actually engaging with them. That is part of the process. Yeah. And we're just starting um this process again, but yes, that'll be part of it. Yum. Before you went into um teaching and learning updates, there was one other update coming out of our January joint meeting, which I think it was Martha who brought it up and she was curious about staying up to date with any sort of um um executive orders or funding um news that was coming along.
So um bear with me. If you have any questions and I can't answer it, I'll write them down and um address them a little bit later. Okay. All right. So these are the the recommendations from the compression compensation committee. Um they addressed a few of the positions that you guys have brought up uh at meet and confer. So, bus drivers, nurses, psychologists, uh those types of positions, and we we'll see what they uh came up with here. Okay. So, these are some of the difficulties they ran into. Um the employee management system, so multiple salary schedules uh for same job groups. Um salary schedules have multiple positions listed under the same pay rates. And I know this one's come up a few times since I've been here. naming conventions for job titles. Um, ba basically makes comparing between districts very difficult, especially when we're using that nextgen software.
So, um Jeff asked me just before the meeting started and I just gotten a memo from the superintendent association asking our legislators for updates. So, this is like changing by the minute. Um what we can tell you at this point, Don, feel free to jump in, is that um as we know the um national department of education is being dismantled and um therefore it's now the states that will own own the educational system. I think that we are blessed to live in Massachusetts because we have a strong curricular framework. Whether you love it or hate it, the MCCAST does measure whether or not students to some degree are meeting and learning those standards. Hopefully, it's a work in progress. Um and so I think that in terms of teaching and learning and supporting kids, we're in a really good place. Funding, um the president did acknowledge that by law, um we still need to financially support special education students and at risk students.
Um, past efforts to fix compression had unintended consequences. Uh, I can't uh really speak to that, but um maybe somebody in the group can later on. U so compression fixes will need to be ongoing and there's also some celebrations. So the uh com compression committee was able to identify multiple ways to address um compression in the groups that were identified in meet and confer um and the committee looked at the following groups. So like I mentioned bus drivers, nurses, ED secretaries, psychologists and facilities workers. All right. So this first slide is on bus drivers. It kind of shows a comparison between Kraton and other districts. We are the orange or yellow line, I guess, depending on the monitor's uh settings there. But uh as you can see, we're at the bottom um in terms of uh hourly rates. And that's the top part. The bottom graph kind of shows how years of experience affects your hourly rates.
So that funding is not going to disappear. It has to come from somewhere. Um and it's just a matter of who's going to manage that. Uh and what stipulations are put on that in terms of you know what schools do, that's to be determined as well. Um, and the other piece that I just wanted to share is I'm I'm not sure if you've been seeing this in the news or if you get all of the same um mail that we get on the the inside of school, but um several of our Massachusetts officials have spoken up about what school will continue to look like in Massachusetts, including Governor Healey, Attorney General um Andrea Campbell, um uh Secretary of Education Pat Tutweiler, and former Commissioner of Education um Russell Johnston. And I just want to read a couple of pieces from uh their joint memo. Um Attorney General Campbell and I, meaning the governor, are issuing this guidance to send a clear message that Massachusetts is going to stay true to who we are.
And you can see ours kind of remains flat. So, uh the more experience you have doesn't necessarily correlate to higher uh pay. All right. So, here's the uh recommendation from the uh committee. A $1 hour per hour increase for bus drivers um including transportation staff who also drive. And the cost to do the $1 per hour increase would be around $46,000. Um, and then a committee note, amounts calculated in the group were too low and have been adjusted. So, I can't really speak to that. Sounds like there was an adjustment that needed to be made, but um you'll see on the final slide uh the 46,000 is u the effect in terms of cost. All right, the next group, nurses. Again, uh similar graphs for all these groups. So you can see the top where we kind of lie or where we land in comparison to other districts towards the bottom there.
We believe that bringing people of different backgrounds and perspectives to the table, including women, people of color, and the LGBTQ plus community is a strength, especially um in our nation. We are committed to work closely with our incredible schools, colleges, and universities to support all of our students. Um, Attorney Campbell says, "I'm proud to partner with the Healey Driscoll administration and Secretary Tutweiler and in updating guidance to affirm that Massachusetts schools can continue efforts to ensure diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. The laws have not changed and schools must continue their work to make sure that every student, regardless of background, can access educational opportunities in the Commonwealth." Um, the attorney general continues, "I am grateful for our administration's partnership." Um, I'm sorry, Lieutenant Governor Driscoll says, "I'm grateful for our administration's partnership with Attorney General Campbell and her team. Today's guidelines strengthen our commitment to ensuring that everyone knows equal access to our K to2 schools and institutions of higher ed.
Um and then same thing um on the bottom graph where years of experience does not necessarily translate into higher pay for employees. And then there's some additional information on the right there. So the recommendation for nurses um our RNs are in alignment with surrounding districts when you factor in the longevity pay. Um the committee will need to manually collect data for LPNs. Uh these staff are included on the ESP salary schedule need to be put in their own category to address compression and the committee will work with HR to correct this. Um so the compression uh is sort of created when LPN's uh receive salary increases and the RNs don't. Um so but the potential cost to fix this compression issue would be about $7,260. Um average 1,210 for existing RN and LPN and then the amount could be less depending on the salary schedule outcome.
In our state, we will continue to collaborate with education leaders to break down barriers to education so that all students can succeed today and into the future." Um the article says this joint guidance reaffirms that these recent federal actions do not prohibit diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the admission and access to higher education or other educational settings. It also includes steps that K to2 schools can take to set their students up for success. Schools and higher ed institutions should continue to make affirmative steps within the law to create and maintain a positive school climate where all students feel safe, supported, respected, and ready to learn. This includes reviewing current practices to ensure they comply with all applicable anti-discrimination, anti-bullying, and civil rights laws. This country has long fought for all students to have equal access to a public education. The federal government is attempting to take us back decades, exacerbating real inequities that still exist today.
So I think uh this one will probably be solved with a little bit of um coordination with HR and that number is uh an estimate the 7,260. All right. So psychologists, you can see on this one we're pretty far below other districts. Um and that's a that's a tough position to fill. Highly qualified people. Um again on the bottom you can see that again the similar in Yepraton's all the way at the bottom there. So um you know years of experience does not translate into an increase in pay for psychologists as well on the right there. That's the uh district salary schedule. Um it shows longevity stipens and their base pay. And then MA60 is that master's degree 60 credits Joel. So there's some additional compensation for um for education. So the psychologist recommendation um adding $5,000 to each um to each level on the salary schedule.
Today's joint guidance reaffirms that Massachusetts will continue to acknowledge and address historical and persistent gaps in student access, as seen here, and achievement, including black and brown students, students with disabilities, low-income students, LGBTQ students, and other marginalized student populations. We remain committed to supporting schools and higher ed institutions within the law to build more equitable educational systems for all students. And that was the secretary of education. And lastly, the former commissioner um of ED says, "At DESIE, our educational vision calls for all students to be known and supported and for families to be known, respected, and valued for who they are. Our vision also calls for us to develop and sustain an educated workforce from pair professionals to superintendent that is diverse, culturally responsive responsive, and wellprepared because we know it benefits students. We remain committed to this work and to the principles reflected in our history and social science curriculum frameworks that effective instruction celebrates the progress of our country has made in embracing diversity while at the same time encouraging honest and informed discussions about both racism and racisms in the past and future.
So what that really means is if you're an A, you're moving from 65 766 to 70766 K 70478 to 75478. So you can see those on the SK on the salary schedule on the previous slide. Um A would be, you know, your lowest starting salary. K is the highest starting salary. So the increase would be about 5,000 to each of those letters. um adjustments to current psych psychologist pay approximately $24,200 and then the committee note 15,000 was not enough to address all categories. Can I ask a clarifying question? When we're looking at the comparative um is that do other districts like I see Baltz is much higher. Um do does do does Baltz also have a market demand stipend or do they just take their market demand stipen and put it in their base? And I guess I'm wondering that for all of the other districts as well.
Um it is essential that schools should continue their support for marginalized students says the commissioner including LGBTQ students to reinforce they belong in the school communities. Research consistently demonstrates that when schools take proactive step steps to foster inclusivity through strong policies, affirming practices, and supportive educators, students experience improved mental health, academic su success and overall well-being. School and district leaders are strongly encouraged to continue implementing policies and practices that protect all students, including transgender and non-bin non-binary students. The Safe Schools program for LGBTQ students is available to provide training, technical assistance, and implementation support to help schools uphold these commitments. If your school or district would like assistance in continuing this essential work, please reach out for the contact information. So, that's the guidance that we're getting from our state officials. I just wanted to put that out there.
Okay, that's what I'm curious because if we took that market demand stipend and put it in our base, it makes it significantly different. I'm sure we're not be still not be the highest, but I'm just right. I don't know. I'm asking. Yeah, when we were together that night, we spent quite a bit of time actually going on each of the districts that we were comparing to to see how they did their market demand. So, we did take that into consideration. So, do they mix their market demand into their Yeah, different districts do it different ways. Yeah, they had different amounts of course and then some of them didn't have a market demand. It was in the base. So, they all did it a little bit differently. But when we were calculating, we didn't just go by that graph. We added the 15,000. If a mark if like Scottsdale has a seven, if we added the 7,000, we added this, we added that, and then we compared.
Happy to take any questions. So, I have a question. Special education, but this comes from Department of Education. to our schools. I So if it's the department of treasury or if it's going to be redistributed to the state level. Does that go to desi and then desi just gives it to the schools that are needed based on their needs for special education? Don, do you want to talk about the intricacies of that? Yeah. So there are formulas that they use, but um it's more the the desi does determine how that is allocated. Desi made any guarantees that in the absence of federal funding that they'll they don't really have any funding other than what? Yeah, but state law still protects students with disabilities to access. It's a mandated it's a mandated funding um program that has to still there's the law still there for yeah for special ed and for low income.
So, we did do that work. Sorry, can I ask a clarifying question then? So, do those graphs include the market demand stipend or no? Like some chart, some don't. It depends on the district because that's the information from NextGen. So, but we also we took that as our like base information and then we went to each of those districts websites to find out and then we added so we did that work on the side. You can't see that reflected in that. Can I ask you to go back one slide please? Mhm. So on that graph where we're in the orange and then we're at the very bottom. Does that include our market demand stipen or no? No. No. Because it's not in the base. So that's what I was going to add is I think all we can do is compare the bases, right? And there's probably surrounding districts that have additional stipens or whatever benefits, but the only thing that we can do is compare the base and whenever there is a proposed raise, it goes from the base.
So those those like so that's the title one grants and our special ed grants will be there in some capacity. It's just where the who's going to oversee them. I mean, Desi will still oversee him, but it might not have the federal ties anymore. And can you remind us about circuit breaker? Circuit breaker is totally funded by the state, right? Representative like what how much of a gap there would be on on the fiscal year budget. Yeah. So, in your budget book, you have this um sheet in the back says summary of grants. So, you can see like what the 240 the 240 is the most substantial grant that we have and that funds educational assistance for special ed. Um it's like the I think the region I want to say is like two no one a little over 200 maybe 240 um 240,000 it's much smaller at the elementaryaries it's like two or three EAS at the elementaryaries but it's like a4 million what you're looking at as far as out of a $29 million budget region.
So the market demand respectfully doesn't really matter because it doesn't it isn't included in any raises that are moving forward. So I think all we can do that's great Dorothy that you all did that extra work to be able to like compare it more accurately but like really the base is all that matters. So, sort of, but we also what we noticed by doing that, I think that work was really important to us because then what we noticed was really where we were off was the placement schedule and our um range from like the A to K, right? Because you can only go up to 10 years was very narrow. So, you know, whether you are first year site coming or a 15-year site getting 10 years worth of credit coming, it was very narrow the starting point where those other districts had a much broader like Scottsdale, for example, has a $20,000 range between their uh least experienced entry point and their most experienced entry point.