Teachers and school administrators are poised to receive a 3 percent raise next year, after the signing of a tentative agreement between the Howard County Education Association and the school system.

Howard's state rank in terms of teacher salaries won't be known until other counties have finished their negotiations. However, school officials hope the increase announced yesterday will help correct what has been deemed a gradual loss of salary competitiveness.

"That was definitely one of our motivating factors in setting the parameters as high as we did," said Karen B. Campbell, school board chairwoman. "We have two goals, and that is to recruit and retain the best teachers we can. Salary is certainly one of the tools that we use to do that."

Union and school officials must sign the agreement before it becomes final. While the County Council decides how much money to give the school system, the negotiated raises are not contingent upon approval by council members.

At a public hearing on the operating budget last month, several speakers lamented the state of teacher salaries, saying Howard County is losing qualified candidates to private industry and other school districts.

"I'm concerned about it," said board member Laura Waters.

Karen Dunlop, president of HCEA, said the county used to rank consistently near the top in the state. But in recent years, it has dropped to 14th for teachers with a bachelor's degree and 18th for those with a master's -- "inexcusable for Howard County," Dunlop said.

"I think this was a very good faith effort on the part of the Board of Education to come to grips with our loss of competitive standing," Dunlop said. "I think it's bolstered by a county government that recognizes that county services are only as good as the people who provide them and that aiming for mediocrity is not what this county should be doing."

A 3 percent raise also has been negotiated for other employees such as secretaries, instructional assistants and maintenance and custodial workers. Besides the 3 percent raise for teachers, the agreement also makes changes to the "step" system of their salary scale. The steps are different levels on the salary scale.

For example, a teacher at step two with a bachelor's degree would make $29,513 next year, up from $28,147.

The agreement also adds another category to the compensation range for school administrators, raising the number of steps from nine to 10. Dunlop said the pool of candidates for assistant principal and principal positions has shrunk, partly because the salary difference between a longtime teacher and a beginning administrator is not that great.

"They really have been stuck for a long, long time," Dunlop said of administrator salaries. "I think this is an important extra incentive for them."

Dunlop and Campbell noted that salaries have suffered in recent years because of tight budgets. Needed programs often were funded at the expense of bigger raises, Dunlop said.

"This marks a new direction," Dunlop said. "It's not going to close the gap, but it's a positive."

The school system's proposed $302.8 million operating budget -- recently approved by the school board -- seeks across-the-board employee raises, including an extra $7.1 million for instructional salary raises alone. The final budget will be approved in June, after the County Council decides how much money it will give the school system.

"The best way to acknowledge superior performance is to pay for it," Campbell said. "However idyllic we think our school system may be there's nothing like bringing home a bigger paycheck."

Pub Date: 3/02/99