Geneva schools chief gets 2 percent raise each of next 4 years

Geneva schools Superintendent Kent Mutchler will get a pay raise of almost 2 percent each of the next four years.

The school board voted 5-2 Tuesday to amend his contract, which runs through June 30, 2018. Leslie Juby and Mike McCormick voted against it.

Exact dollar amounts were not available Wednesday. Mutchler has a base salary of $203,720 this year, so the 1.95 percent raise would equate to $207,692 in the fiscal year that starts July 1, and increase to about $220,081.

The board didn't change any other terms in his contract, board President Mark Grosso said.

In the past, the pay and benefits have been changed annually, and the contract extended a year, after a review of Mutchler's performance.

Grosso said the raises were added now because of the June 1 start of changes in pension rules for educators and administrators. Under the pension reform law adopted in December, the amount of salary that can be used to calculate a superintendent's pension benefit is to be capped at whatever they are paid at the end of their current contract.

But a Sangamon County Circuit Court judge issued a temporary injunction barring the law's implementation, while it considers whether to consolidate two lawsuits questioning the constitutionality of the law.

Grosso said the board will review Mutchler, and consider extending the contract, during the summer.

Mutchler was hired in 2006 on a three-year contract. In 2008 the school board extended it to 2013, and in 2009 the board extended it to 2014. Last August, it extended it to 2018.