By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Levy County School Superintendent Chris Cowart received a 1 percent salary increase from the school board on Feb. 8 that was disclosed only when school board member Tammy Boyle insisted on discussing it publicly, but not even Boyle knew the full story.

            Boyle learned during the meeting from School Board attorney David Delaney that the increase of 1 percent was actually going to increase to 2 percent next year, 3 percent the third year and 4 percent for the fourth year assuming the board was agreeable to the increases each year.

            Delaney revealed the additional information about the increase in response to Boyle’s question on whether the 1 percent would be added to Cowart’s regular salary set by the state. The answer was yes, it would be added to his salary, but Delaney said he needed to clarify that the salary increase was based on what Columbia County adopted when it gave its superintendent a 1 percent increase, then 2 percent, 3 percent, and 4 percent over four years.

            “So, this is news to me. So based on this paragraph at the bottom of the page, it says 1 percent,” Boyle said.

            Cowart responded that the increase in salary would come to the board once a year for approval. If the board decides he doesn’t deserve the extra money, he won’t get it.

            “So, it goes up to 2 percent the second year, 3 percent the 3rd year, and 4 percent the fourth year?” Boyle said. “If it’s not policy, how is that going to come before us again and how would we have known that sitting here if it had not come from the board attorney?”

            “This is the exact language that came from Columbia County,” Cowart said.

            “I am a firm believer in performance,” Boyle responded. “When you show a large amount of performance, then your pay should be looked at and accredited based on what you have done. Me personally, I think as a board and as a county and looking at our tax dollars, we need to have some more input over the next few years before this is put through right now.”

            School Board member Paige Brookins asked if other counties were giving their superintendents the same increase in pay. Delaney said he hadn’t done extensive research. He knew only that Columbia County had given its superintendent the 1 percent increase in pay.

            Cowart formerly served on the Levy County School Board before being elected superintendent in 2020. The superintendent is not an employee of the school board. He is the school board’s chief administrator but is elected independently of the school board.

            Cowart was earning $115,000 annually before the increase in pay. His salary is set by the state, but four members of the board felt he had performed exceptionally well as the superintendent and deserved more money. They outvoted Boyle 4-1 to approve an increase that hadn’t been disclosed on the board’s online agenda for the Feb. 8 school board meeting.

            The 1 percent increase is legal under state statute.

            When Spotlight requested a copy of the agenda item for Cowart’s pay increase, school officials emailed a page that wasn’t shown on the board’s online agenda. The page included an obscure notice at the bottom that talked about state statutes and allowing 1 percent annually for superintendents. It stated:

            “Superintendent: As published by the Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research; Salaries of Elected Constitutional Officers and School district Officials, plus 1 percent of this amount for each year as Superintendent of schools.”

            Apparently, the consent agenda given to school board members for the Feb. 8 meeting wasn’t the same as the consent agenda published on the school board website for public consumption. The consent agenda is a cluster of business items the board routinely approves as a package at every board meeting, often without much discussion, or any discussion. The board feels the items aren’t worth taking time to discuss in any detail in a board meeting

             Boyle raised the issue of Cowart’s pay increase early in the Feb. 8 meeting when she said she asked to pull the item off the consent agenda. The only way consent items can be discussed is if a board member requests a chance to talk about it and a majority of board members vote to approve discussion of the item. Boyle’s request was approved unanimously.

            She said she had discussed the pay increase with Cowart ahead of time and they were on opposite sides of the fence on whether he should receive the pay increase. She wanted more accountability for public tax dollars.

            “I think we need to be held accountable for our tax dollars and what we do here as a board,” she said.

            Boyle said the Levy County superintendent’s salary increased between 2019 and 2022 from $109,908 to $115,773.

            She said she knows Cowart has a lot on his plate and he works hard and she wasn’t discounting those facts. She said no disrespect was intended by bringing the matter forward.

            “I wanted everyone to know what I was thinking,” she said.

            She said Cowart began working a month ago toward earning a state certificate that could give him an even higher salary. The certificate is called a Chief Executive Officer Leadership Development Certificate. She said it takes about a year to earn. She has no doubt Cowart is capable of earning the certificate. Based on his annual performance as a superintendent, the certificate will give him an incentive of not less than $3,000 nor more than $7,500.

            “I think sometimes we have to look at what it appears to others other than ourselves sitting here and at the district,” Boyle said. “When I had regular jobs out there, I would get performance evaluations. My increase would be based on how I performed. I know there’s been talk of evaluations for us board members and even the board attorney. I think that’s the protocol if we want to put that in place, and look at those performances and revisit this based on those performances.”

            Cowart responded that when he was looking at teacher salary schedules in districts that touch Levy County’s border, he found language in Columbia County about the school superintendent in that county getting increases above what he received from the state. He noted that giving the superintendent a salary increase has never been done before in Levy County, but he added that the school district had never previously allowed a district-level administrator to go back to coaching football either, which was done last year with Adam Gore in Chiefland.

            “I tried to think outside the box. We want to reward our teachers and our district-level staff here, which is a part of rewarding them for their hard work. The principals and assistant principals are being rewarded for performance base, so I understand that,” Cowart said. “It is 1 percent. It’s never been done in Levy County. We were looking for the scope of things between elected superintendents and also other superintendents around the state that are appointed. Also, we looked locally in the United States at what those salaries are. It’s a wide variety of things.”

            “It’s 1 percent. I brought those to Kim Lake, the financial director. If we don’t have the funds, I’m not taking the bonuses. That’s been stated to her (Lake),” Cowart said. “I understand Boyle is on the opposite side of this. I appreciate her looking at this as being a good steward of Levy County dollars. Yes, I know what this job entailed when I took it. If you so decide (not to approve the extra money), it’s not going to stop me from doing my job one way or another. I found this language (in Columbia County). I worked extremely hard in the last year for this district, for the employees, and for students, so I am advocating for myself.”

            Retiring school board member Brad Etheridge said he has been a member of the board long enough to see what Cowart has accomplished in his first term as superintendent.

            “We’re doing things that I think set our county forward probably as much as I’ve seen in a long time,” Etheridge said, noting supplements have been increased for the first time since the 1980s. He said the school district remains so far back on giving supplements that it may never get caught up. In looking at the budget, Etheridge said the budget is in the best shape he’s seen since coming on the board.

            “We’ve been able to do things for the employees I didn’t even think were possible,” he said.

            School board member Cameron Asbell said he supported the increased pay for Cowart for a different reason. He said he has been on the board long enough to have seen a previous superintendent’s pay cut by 10 to 12 percent by the state. The county has no influence over the pay cut.

            Brookins said Cowart came to the superintendent’s position with the advantage of having served on the school board for a number of years, having studied budgets, and having participated in creating the school district’s master board status.

            “I’m proud of the work and the direction he is leading the county,” she said.

            School Board Chairwoman Ashley Clemenzi said she supported the 1 percent increase.

            “I do think we should review it once a year. I do want to review it in a year and maybe implement an evaluation that would make everyone feel more comfortable. We could do that later. I do support a 1 percent increase,” she said.

Go to https://www.youtube.com/user/LevyCountySchools to hear and see the video of February 8, 2022 meeting, look for the February 8, 2022 tile, then forward to the time stamp 35:08.

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School Board of Levy County February 8, 2022; March 5, 2022