Raises For Kings Park School Adminstrators

Raises, included in the 2013-14 school budget, were officially approved at the Tuesday evening Kings Park Board of Education meeting.

The 1.75 percent increases are for district administrators and central office employees and were approved in a 3-1 vote. Trustee Diane Nally voted against the the motion and Vice President Liz Barrett was not present.

The increase will bring District Superintendent Susan Agruso's salary to $216,376; Assistant Superintendent Ralph Cartisano to $182,849 and Assistant Superintendent Phil Kenter to $139,805. Click here to see a copy of the approved raises.

Trustee Tom Locascio said the raises were part of the series of public budget workshops and were agreed upon during that process without objection. The nearly $83 million budget was approved by voters in May, which also included the cut of 11 teaching positions. 

"The raises were all included in the budget and discussed during the budget process," said Locascio. "These employees are not part of a union. They have taken two hard freezes (no raises) in the past four years."

$19,000 was spent on the increases for the thirteen employees who received raises. According to Locascio, the average raise for a teacher this year was about 3.6 percent. Teachers in Kings Park have been working under an expired contract since June 2011.

According to a report in Newsday, Nally said she voted against the raises because of a provision that would allow the employees to use 90 days of their accumulated sick days at retirement to pay for their portion of health insurance premiums.

"We are in, right now, very uncertain times as far as our financial stability over the next few years, especially since we don't have teachers' contracts," said Nally. 

Under the Taylor Law and Triborough Amendment, teachers working under an expired contract still receive step increases annually.