School board delays vote on superintendent contract, approves 6 percent raises for campus administrators

Blaine school board met on May 28, voting unanimously to delay its decision on ratifying district superintendent Christopher Granger’s contract until next month’s meeting, citing inconsistent language in the contract, and a lack of prior discussion by the current board.

It was the board’s first meeting since approving a reduced budget for next year, cutting about 30 positions to help save the district $2.5 million.

District 5 Director Steve Galbraith said he wanted the board to meet with the district’s attorneys and go over the language of the contract before voting to approve or deny a three-year extension that would employ Granger through the 2026-27 school year.

If approved as written by the school board, the superintendent would earn a base annual salary of $215,979 for the 2024-25 school year, which the board would be able to adjust on a yearly basis. The figure is in line with other local district superintendent salaries, according to the contract.

The board voted 4-1 to approve a six percent raise for its school principals and other non-represented staff. The lone nay vote was from District 2 Director Ben Lazarus, who preferred a 3.7 percent raise that would require less financial backing from the district’s already thin budget.

“To the admins in the audience, I have the utmost respect for the hard work you guys are doing, and I’m not trying to shortchange anybody,” Lazarus said. “Whatever problem we have we’re just answering with dollars and now we’re closing our libraries and we’re not giving our students what they really need.”

The board approved 4.8 percent raises for classified staff and 6.7 percent raises for teachers in the most recent budget. 

The board also discussed next year’s budget, a draft version of which will be released to the public on July 10 and voted on this summer. The district doesn’t yet know the exact figure that will need to be cut from the school’s budget, one already significantly slashed over the past two years, but presumed cuts will need to be made given expected enrollment numbers.

“If enrollment continues to decline, even at one grade level, we’ll be reducing to respond to that,” Granger said.