The CMS board gave its lawyer a $28,000 raise, and members say it's overdue
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board has unanimously awarded its general counsel a raise of almost $28,000, saying the complexity and quality of his work merits the bump.
George Battle III is the top lawyer for a district that educates almost 150,000 students and employs more than 19,000 people. His new salary of $229,500, effective July 1, is comparable to that of the Mecklenburg County attorney ($225,000) and Charlotte's city attorney ($248,492).
"This organization is every bit as complex and as important as a big hospital system, a big city department or a big corporation," board member Elyse Dashew said at the June 26 meeting. "Thank you for the skill set and the integrity with which you do the job."
The board also approved revised contracts for 12 top administrators at that meeting. But the revision to Battle's contract, which was extended through 2022, was not listed on the agenda, nor has the contract been publicly posted like the others. CMS provided the Observer a copy on Monday.
The annual increase of $27,929 amounts to 14 percent, in a year when CMS teacher raises will average about half that.
Battle doesn't work for Superintendent Clayton Wilcox, who faced some criticism over large raises for his staff when he arrived last summer. The general counsel and superintendent are the only two employees who report directly to the school board.
Board member Thelma Byers-Bailey said Battle had asked for a raise last year but the board delayed because it was absorbed with student assignment and welcoming Wilcox to the new job.
"It was way overdue," Byers-Bailey said Monday. "He's doing a fabulous job for us."
At the meeting several board members spoke to praise his work and cite the need for a paycheck that matches the task.
"It's a big job and we need to pay people commensurately for that," said Vice Chair Rhonda Cheek.
Battle, who was hired for the CMS job in 2010 and ran for Congress in 2014, has a higher profile than most government lawyers.
In 2014 Battle brought school board leaders a report alleging misconduct by then-Superintendent Heath Morrison, which led to Morrison's abrupt resignation after less than three years on the job. Morrison said at the time that he had clashed with Battle over proposed pay hikes for the legal staff shortly before that, though Battle said that had nothing to do with his investigation of Morrison.
Battle's salary has risen just over 50 percent since he started, and about 33 percent in the past five years.
Board member Sean Strain noted that the board looked at comparable jobs in other school districts, as well as Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, in deciding that this year's raise was reasonable.