The lower-school principal of Success Preparatory Academy will try to convince charter school board members this evening that salary increases for administrative staffers are needed.

Currently, the spending plan for next year at Success Prep is over budget by $15,000.

Board members at a finance committee meeting last week said they support a balanced budget.

The meeting will be held tonight at 5:30 at the school, 2011 Bienville St.

Last month, school board members said that they didn’t see any reasons for the proposed salary increases for administrators. They did vote to approve teacher raises so teachers could be sent offer letters for next year.

At a special finance committee meeting Thursday, board members instructed school leaders to make cuts where necessary.

The updated budget will be discussed tonight and is expected to move on to the full board for an official vote over the next few months.

Lower-school principal Niloy Gangopadhyay remains adamant that Success Prep’s pay for the administrative staff is too low.

“We’re down half-a-person” in terms of workload, Gangopadhyay said at last week’s finance committee meting, held specifically to discuss salary increases. “They’ve been underpaid.”

Board member Kathryn Broussard said she wanted Gangopadhyay to list the employees’ responsibilities and show salary comparisons with other schools before she’d support the proposed increases.

He said he would fight as hard as he can for the increases.

“I worry about losing people and fair competition,” he said.

In terms of presenting a balanced budget, Gangopadhyay said, “We can save on paper or electricity. We can skimp on copies; we can’t skimp on people.”

Gangopadhyay added that the school had received a federal grant from the Teacher Incentive Fund, which could mean an extra $2,500 in bonuses for teachers who meet benchmarks in areas like student testing data, attendance, evaluations and more.