The State Board of Career and Technology Education met in executive session to consider the performance and compensation of the state director and, after returning to open session, voted to increase the director’s annual salary retroactive to April 1 and to direct staff to research the feasibility of a bonus plan.

Assistant Attorney General Sohail Hajwani briefed the board on recent changes to the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) pay bands for executive directors, saying OMES initially increased the pay band for the CareerTech executive director from about $189,167 to $216,197 and that a subsequent statewide adjustment raised the band to roughly $233,493. Hajwani recommended the board wait for OMES’s anticipated consolidation of pay bands before seeking an additional increase.

"I recommend that the board wait and see what that increase looks like down the line," Hajwani said, explaining that OMES may consolidate bands and that the agency could have more room to act after that analysis.

After the executive session, the board made two formal motions in open session. The board voted to raise the state director’s salary, retroactive to April 1; the motion and the roll call showing unanimous affirmative votes appear in the meeting record. The transcripted motion text contained unclear numeric transcription of the new salary figure; the board’s motion text on the public record called for an increase and directed CareerTech human resources to implement the change as soon as possible. Roll-call voting recorded the following members voting yes: Mister Brown; Mister Dillingham; Mister Gilbert; Miss Hanning; Mister McCullough; and Mister Seaman.

The board also voted unanimously to have staff research bonus plans for state directors and, if such plans are legally permissible, collaborate with the state director to draft a proposal for the board to consider later this year with implementation beginning January 2026.

No votes were taken during executive session, and the minutes state that no non-agendized items were discussed during the closed session. The board thanked Director Brent Hagan for his leadership and said a formal, scheduled review will occur again in January 2026.

Clarifying details: the transcript records OMES pay-band figures presented by agency counsel (previous band roughly $189,167; an increase to $216,197; then a later adjustment to approximately $233,493). The exact new salary figure specified in the motion was unclear in the transcript; the article reports the board’s substantive action (an approved raise effective April 1) and the unanimous roll-call outcome as recorded in the minutes.