Tax hike brings scrutiny to city school salaries

When the Dublin City Board of Education advertised a 25 percent hike in school taxes, irate city taxpayers packed the board meeting room at three public hearings to complain unsuccessfully about the tax jump. They argued that salaries in the school system’s central office are higher than those of schools of comparable size and even those of the Laurens County School System with almost three times as many students. The school board raised taxes anyway.

The Georgia Department of Education website (gadoe.org) and openga.gov provide financial information on all school systems in the state. The most recent salary information available is for FY 2023.

Dublin City School Superintendent Fred Williams drew a salary that year that was more than $100,000 higher than that of the state’s superintendent of schools. Williams’ pay was $234,462.09. State Superintendent Richard Woods’ pay was $129,519.95. Further, Williams’ travel reimbursement was $12,546.04 – just $44.91 less than Woods’ $12,590.95.

The websites show that the Dublin City School System has 2,373 students. For comparison purposes, the Vidalia City School System serves 2,347, and the Thomasville City School Systems serves 2,703. The Laurens County School System has an enrollment of 6,349.

Information available on openga.gov for 2023 shows a wide range of salaries for employees doing the same job across systems. The Dublin City School System pays larger salaries, especially in the central administration office, than the other three systems pay. 

School Superintendents:

• Dublin City: Fred Williams, $234.462 plus $12,546 travel expenses – total $247,008

• Thomasville City: Raymond Bryant, $189,941 plus $4,235 travel – total $194,176

• Laurens County: Clifford Garnto, $181,438 plus $10,924 travel – total $192,362

• Vidalia City: James Wilcox, $161,841 plus $128 travel – total $161,969.

The second highest-paid employee in the Dublin system that year was Christi Thublin, former assistant superintendent, at $142,249 plus $1,840 travel reimbursement for a total of $144,089. In each of the other systems, the second-highest paid employee is a principal – in Thomasville, $143,818 plus $462 travel for a total of $144,280; Vidalia, $133,089 plus $2,279 totaling $135,368; and Laurens County, $123,244 plus $3,300 travel for a total of $126,544.

The Dublin City School System also had more employees making more than $100,000 than any of the other three systems. Dublin paid 15 employees ranging from $102,894 to Williams’ $234,462. Another 15 salaries range from $90,175 to $98,596,

The Dublin system employed 515 while Laurens County system employed 1,131. However, in the school systems similar in size to Dublin, Thomasville employed 477 and Vidalia 453. 

Last year, 14 Laurens County School System employees drew paychecks ranging from $101,083 to Garnto’s $181,438. Another 16 made between $90,011 and $99,652. 

Some of Dublin’s highest-paid employees work in the central office often in positions not funded or only partially funded by the state Department of Education. Among those for which the state does not allocate money are the two public relations slots. Jason Halcombe received a salary of $94,094 plus $4,347 travel reimbursement for a total of $98,441. Ashley Thublin came in just under Halcombe at $96,094 plus $1,824 for a total of $97,918. The school system spent $196,359 on the two unfunded positions. 

The Laurens County School System paid its public relations officer $45,203, plus $4,614 travel reimbursement for a total of $49,817. The openga.gov salary website does not show either Thomasville or Valdosta with a public relations position at that time.

School system size weighs into allocation of positions to be funded by the state Department of Education. Dublin schools fall into the category of 3,300 FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) students. 

For school systems of that size in fiscal year 2024, the state allocated for central administration: $63,328 for one superintendent; one secretary, $17,452; one accountant (10-month contract), $26,048; and two assistant superintendents, $63,328 each.