FWCS Board Pres. on raises: 'Not yet'

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Five Fort Wayne Community School officials could get raises later this year, but Board President Mark GiaQuinta said right now there's no money to do it.

Tuesday NewsChannel 15 discovered a change approved by the FWCS board that would allow five of the district's top officials to receive a raise. Those top officials are the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operations Officer, and the three Area Administrators. Those officials could not have received a raise without the approved change.

NewsChannel 15 spoke with President Mark GiaQuinta to find out why this change was proposed and ultimately approved.

"You want to separate pay grades so that you have incentives for people to excel and be promoted and be able to make more money based on more responsibility and better performance. That's why you restructure those pay grades. Now whether or not you fund those comes down to whether or not there's money to fund them," said Mark GiaQuinta, FWCS Board President.

With Governor Mitch Daniels' cut to public education, FWCS is facing a $15 million shortfall in 2010. That shortfall will likely mean more cuts for the district. NewsChannel 15 asked GiaQuinta if the five officials can expect to receive a raise.

"We have not funded any pay increases because the money's not there. And until the money is there, there won't be any pay increases," said GiaQuinta.

Even without the Governor's cuts, FWCS was going to have to work off a $7 million deficit. If raises are approved, they will take effect July 1st. That decision should be made sometime in March.

All five of the people who could receive a raise make over $113,000 per year.