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There are experience restrictions here, too. Previously, you could only be the lowest level for the first year, regardless of test score, then the second level the second year if you made over 80, then top level (certified) after that so long as you made over 90. I don't know what those restrictions will be now. And our travel is paid from the home of the association to the school, regardless of actual distance traveled by the officials. Means feast or famine for some of us. This is particularly true for me personally, since I live at one extreme end of our territory.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nevadaref (Post 965079)

The point is that maybe they aren't doing the same job.

Questions:
Is the guy with 12 years more valuable to crew than the guy with four who just moved up from JV?
Is the person who scored an 80 on the rules exam providing the same service to the schools as the guy who scored 96? Which people would the schools rather have?
What about physical fitness? If one guy can run a mile in 7 minutes and it takes another 10, are they both performing equally on the court?
If a veteran helps out by taking a Frosh or JV contest with a first or second year official, do you think that they will be providing equal service?

If the lower classified official truly is pulling his own weight, then it is imperative that the association's evaluation and classification system detect that and properly place him.
In the end, people who dedicate the time to do certain things which are conducive to quality officiating will be rewarded for it (study the rules, work on physical fitness, go to instructional camps, etc.) and those who don't put in the effort will get what they deserve. The important aspect is that the system must be open and achievable by anyone in the group (except perhaps for the newbies--1st and 2nd year refs).

When it comes to "equal pay for equal work laws," one may be in a tenuous position to change the criteria to the "perceived quality of performance" in doing the same job. I've not understood that to be the intent of such statements - (equal pay for equal work). And whereas schools are generally government entities, such laws, whether state or federal, certainly are to be considered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob1968 (Post 965102)

It is very hard, in my opinion, to define "equal work" or set standards for it. Some of the 4 year (or less) guys are better than some of the 12 year (or more) guys. Some of the 80 test scores are waaaay better than some of the 95 guys. And yes, one can be terribly slow and out of shape and still do a better job than some who are in prime physical condition.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich (Post 965098)

I'm a high school assigner. I don't even want to pay travel for the reason I posted above -- schools will start questioning why I'm hiring guys from a longer distance.

We pay travel, but it isn't based on where the official comes from. It is based on how far the school is from the center of town. A given school's amount is fixed regardless of who works the game.

For any given official and any given game, the amount may not reflect the actual distance driven but over time it averages out and generally reflects the differences in travel to different sites. It has the effect of making the outer schools more appealing to go to.

It serves to balance the appeal of different locations. Why would an official want to drive 40 miles (each way) to a low level school that is unlikely to have a good game when they can go 5-10 to a big school that is more likely to have a good game? Without travel to some of the distant locations, an official would actually lose money on some games.

Also, the assignor's pay isn't affected by the travel. It is based only on the base game fee without the travel portion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nevadaref (Post 965092)

I'm sure that some schools will hire the lower tier officials in an attempt to save money, but I'm also certain that other schools will strive to only hire the top-tiered guys.

With some of my customers that have tiered pay rates for the officials, they charge the schools a fixed rate that is essentially based on the average official pay. It isn't the per game average, but the overall season average. It isn't precisely the average but based on historical averages. The school pays the same for every game but the organization reallocates between the officials the money based on the official levels. Some games may pay more out than collected from the school and some may pay less. Also, the schools don't have a say in who is assigned...the assignor does that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nevadaref (Post 965092)

Several college conferences now pay on a tier system. It is a way to entice top quality officials to work their games. I believe that competition at the HS level for the best officials would be positive.

Not a bad idea in theory, but difficult to put into practice because the "competition" you refer to would be subject to a great deal of nepotism and corruption. Heck, that already exists in many places. If you start adding in tiered varsity pay scales as opposed to just the usual V/JV split then you'll see that much more jackassery.

There are a lot of good and fair assignors out there, but unfortunately there are some that aren't.

NCAA officials at all divisions get evaluated pretty much every game. VHS officials maybe get evaluated 1-3 times per year. It would be hard to accurately rack-and-stack officiating talent for purposes of a tiered pay system with such a minute sample size of observations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crosscountry55 (Post 965123)

VHS officials maybe get evaluated 1-3 times per year.

What about the older Beta officials or the newer DVD and Blu-Ray officials? ;)