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The DeKalb County School District (DCSD) announced May 24 that its new aligned salary structure will save the district more than $2 million over the next three years.

The district announced in April it would consolidate more than 380 job titles into 17 job classifications, each with a new uniform salary structure across all departments and aligned with the current market for salaries and positions.

Officials said the new salary structure will be implemented over a three-year period and will adjust the salaries of 489 positions, including central office secretaries, counselors, psychologists, physical therapists and others.

“The process will realize savings of more than $800,000 in FY2013 and more than $2 million over the next three years,” a press release stated.

Earlier this year Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson announced the district will be reorganizing its central office and created a new organizational chart for all employees.

“The new job classifications and salary structure will create more equitable compensation across departments, bring our salaries in line with similar school systems and produce significant cost savings for the district,” Atkinson said.

In November 2011, the school district began the reorganization of the central office with an independent audit of central office and school-based personnel, the first such audit in several years.

The reorganization has eliminated 73 central office positions for a savings of approximately $5 million. The second phase of the reorganization, which is scheduled to be completed by mid-fall, is currently under way and relates to the district’s facilities and operations.

In addition to central office positions, the district has also eliminated or reassigned 3,197 positions to schools that were formerly coded to the central office budget. According to a press release these positions are now accurately allocated directly to the schools where the services are delivered.

With the reorganization, the DCSD central office has been streamlined from 4,098 positions to 814 positions, which represents 6 percent of the district’s total workforce and is comparable to districts with similar student enrollment.