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Negotiations are under way to work out a new three-year contract for Frederick County school administrators to replace the one that expired June 30.

The talks are confidential, so officials on both sides would not say what unresolved issues remain, though Betsy Little, principal at Oakdale Elementary and president administrators' union, said the delay is not related to a new study that recommends boosting administrators' salaries.

"Salaries are just a small piece of the contract," she said.

The study was conducted by The Singer Group of Reisterstown, and was presented to the school board on June 24.

It recommends that Frederick County Public Schools increase administrators' salaries to make them more comparable to salaries in neighboring counties.

The study compared the salary ranges for administrators — principals, assistant principals, psychologists, pupil personnel workers and coordinators — in Frederick to those in Montgomery, Howard, Washington and Carroll counties.

It found that on average, the minimum pay for Frederick administrators is 22 percent below market rate while the maximum is 8 percent below.

As a result, the study suggested that Frederick County become more competitive by increasing administrators' salaries and adopting more defined salary ranges.

Under one recommendation, for example, the minimum salary for a high school principal would go from $70,000 to $94,000, and the maximum would increase from $125,000 to $141,000.

Likewise, the minimum salary for elementary and middle school principals would go from $65,000 to $90,000 while the maximum would jump from $115,000 to $135,000.

Little said the study highlighted a need to make salaries in Frederick more competitive to those in neighboring school systems.

But she also said that Frederick administrators recognize the demands of the economy, and are just hoping the school board will consider the issue. "It was just a fact-finding exercise," she said. "We recognize that there are severe economic issues."

None of the study's findings or recommendations will be included in the contract this year, Little said, though school board members will have to decide over the coming year if they want to follow any of the recommendations.

Board member Michael Schaden agreed. While the board members may discuss the issue, they are not likely to take any action on the study's recommendations for at least two years, he said.

Schaden was not happy when he saw the first presentation of the study in June. He said he did not think it was appropriate for the board to discuss hiking administrators' salaries when budgets are being cut, and the community is already criticizing the school system for paying too much to its administrators.

"My frustration was more with the timing," Schaden said.

At the same time, Schaden noted that Frederick County Public Schools has to have comparable salaries if it wants to retain highly qualified educators.

"We are not competing against county government," he said. "We are not competing with Frederick Community College. We are competing against surrounding counties. We need to be sensitive to that."

Representatives for both the union and the school system say they have no reason to believe they won't reach an agreement.

"Negotiations between [the union] and the Frederick County Board of Education continue," Mark Pritts and Steve Martin, chief negotiators for the union and the school board, respectively, said in a written statement to The Gazette. "Both parties are hopeful and confident that an agreement will be reached soon."

The Frederick County Association of School Administrators typically signs a new contract with the Frederick County Board of Education every three years. The contract outlines the rights and responsibilities of the administrators' union on issues such as salaries, benefits, professional development or travel reimbursement.

"The hope is always that the contract will be finalized before the previous contract expires," Little said. "But there is no reason for concern. It just takes time."

E-mail Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.

A new study by The Singer Group of Reisterstown recommends boosting the salaries for Frederick County school administrators.

For example, the study suggests that the minimum salary for a high school principal go from $70,000 to $94,000, and the maximum increase from $125,000 to $141,000.

Likewise, the study suggests that the minimum salary for elementary and middle school principals would go from $65,000 to $90,000 while the maximum would jump from $115,000 to $135,000.