How much will Muscogee County superintendent make after pay raise? What records show
When the Muscogee County School District board unanimously approved without public discussion a salary raise and contract extension for the superintendent during its December meeting, the amended agreement wasn’t attached to the agenda.
Through a request under the Georgia Open Records Act, the Ledger-Enquirer has obtained a copy of the old and new contracts. They show the board gave superintendent David Lewis a 9% raise, from an annual salary of $186,000 to $203,000.
The new agreement also extends the contract’s expiration by 18 months, from June 30, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2024.
The raise still leaves Lewis below the average annual salary of $235,062 among 11 other superintendents in state school districts of similar size, according to a survey the board asked the Georgia School Superintendents Association to conduct, board chairwoman Pat Hugley Green of District 1 told the Ledger-Enquirer. The survey doesn’t disclose the identity of those districts.
The other salaries in the survey range from a low of $195,000 to a high of $309,000. This raise lifts Lewis’ salary from the bottom of the list to seventh out of 12.
Green told the L-E in an email that the raise for Lewis is based on “improvement on annual goals, all-time highs on student improvement metrics and continued progress on the district’s strategic plan.”
Green listed graduation rate, the Georgia Milestones Assessment System, the College and Career Ready Performance Index and SAT and ACT scores.
Evidence of improvement
In 2021, MCSD’s graduation rate of 91.2% increased by 1.8 percentage points over 2020. It’s the district’s highest rate since the state started using its current calculation nine years ago.
The Georgia Department of Education canceled the GMAS tests in the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so education officials caution against comparing the 2021 results to 2019.
In 2019, MCSD improved its GMAS performance compared to the previous year on three-fourths of the state’s standardized tests for grades 3-12. In 2021, MCSD had the highest score compared to the school districts in Georgia’s other second-tier cities (Augusta, Macon and Savannah) on 18 of the 26 subject tests.
The CCRPI, on a 100-point scale, is the state’s way of summarizing with one number how well schools and districts perform, based on the GMAS scores, progress, closing gaps and other metrics.
The state didn’t release CCPRI scores in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic. In 2019, the district’s CCRPI score increased by 2.5 points to 74.2 and narrowed the gap with the state average, which decreased by 0.7 points to 75.9.
MCSD’s scores on the college entrance exams continued to improve.
From 2020 to 2021, the district increased its average SAT composite score from 1048 to 1106 on the 1,600-point scale while Georgia’s increased from 1043 to 1077 . The U.S. average increased from 1030 to 1038.
During the same time period, the district increased its average ACT score from 19.9 to 22.3 on the 36-point scale while Georgia’s increased from 21.7 to 22.6. The U.S. average decreased from 20.6 to 20.3.
Reaction to raise
In an emailed interview with the L-E, Lewis expressed his appreciation for the raise.
“I am grateful to our board for their unanimous approval of the increased compensation,” he said, “and I appreciate their ongoing confidence and support.”
Lewis was associate superintendent for learning in Polk County, Fla., when the MCSD board hired him in 2013 and gave him a three-year contract with an annual salary of $170,000.
Since then, the board voted to raise his salary by:
Asked what his goals are for MCSD this year, Lewis said, “First and foremost, to continue to safely navigate the pandemic and address its adverse impacts on the academic, social, emotional and nutritional development of our students, as well as the needs of our staff.”
Lewis also wants the district to “continue to build student agency through our personalized learning initiative (all students received Chromebooks), expand employee recruitment and retention efforts, launch the first phase of the MCSD virtual franchise (online classes for students living anywhere), enhance organizational efficiency and fund balance, and continue progress on ESPLOST projects (the sales tax that helps pay for new and renovated facilities).”
