After a lengthy executive session discussion over administrative salaries, the Natchez-Adams School Board approved the district’s $34 million budget for the 2000-01 fiscal year – which began two weeks ago.

Board members deliberated for close to two hours before approving the budget, which includes an increase in salary for many of the district’s central office administrators. Superintendent Dr. Carl Davis described the increase not as a raise but as an &uot;increase that would justify (increased) responsibility.&uot;

During the open session of the board meeting, board member Don Marion asked not to approve the budget until members could discuss the salaries in executive session.

The board discussed proposed salaries for its 18 central office administrators and how they compared to salaries of people in similar position in other state districts. Davis said he wanted to the board to also consider the responsibility of the positions in addition to education, years of experience and certifications when calculating salaries.

&uot;You have to pay them a decent salary and hold them accountable for the job that they do,&uot; he said.

The district compared the salaries of its central administrators in in the Cleveland, DeSoto County, Jackson, Pascagoula, Rankin, Starkville and Vicksburg-Warren district.

Natchez-Adams board members compared the low and high salaries of its positions with those of the other districts, many of which started at a higher rate.

For example, the salary range for an assistant superintendent in Natchez ranges from $60,000 on the low end and $69,000 on the high end. For other school districts, the low end is $61,000 and the high end is $70,000.

At Thursday’s meeting, the board voted to raise the administrative salaries to the lower end of the salaries earned in other districts.

&uot;I asked for the higher end, but I knew I wasn’t going to get the higher end,&uot; Davis said.

The board also gave some administrators salary adjustments based on who had been give more duties for the upcoming year.

For example, instead of replacing former assistant superintendent Larry Little, who retired last year, the board will use some of his salary to finance salary adjustments for those who took over his duties.

The salary adjustments did not have much impact on the overall funding for the administrative salaries.

The district saved $18,730 by keeping the salaries on the lower end of the state scale, with a total administrative budget of $904,045.

In other business Thursday, the board also discussed other funding issues. Members gave approval of a new $200,000 software package but requested more information on how it was to funded.

Another motion to hire Winnie Kaiser of the Natchez-Adams Economic Development Authority to do additional grant writing for the district died for lack of a second.