SELMA — The offer is in, and the Selma City School Board should know sometime Thursday if Grindal Harris will accept a contract as the system’s next chief financial officer.

The board offered Harris a three-year contract, beginning at $70,000 a year. The first year would be probationary. In year two, the salary rises to $73,000 and in the third year, Harris would earn $76,000. In addition, the school system would pay for insurance and retirement benefits, as it does for all employees.

The contract also gives Harris a three-week vacation each year.

Board attorney Katy Campbell was to have e-mailed the contract to Harris Wednesday evening.

The salary does not come from local funds, but is paid through the state education foundation, said interim Superintendent Don Jefferson.

In the event of proration, the school system would have to make up the difference between the amount the state sends the system and the original amount, he added.

Members of the school board were split over a starting salary. The last chief school financial officer earned $70,000 a year.

Member Brenda Randolph-Obomanu of District 2 wanted to start Harris at $75,000 per year, saying the accountant would not come for less.

School board President Henry Hicks voted with Obomanu.

Board members Frank Chestnut Jr. of District 3, Holland Powell of District 1 and Udo Ufomado of District 4, voted for the graduated salary schedule.

Powell, chairman of the committee to negotiate Harris’s contract, said the $70,000 salary was in line with other school systems in the state of similar enrollment and finances.

During the discussion prior to the board’s vote, Jefferson pushed for paying Harris a higher salary.

“It’s easy to sit and discuss and look at the numbers, but nobody knows what goes into the job,” he said. “That is a lot of work, a lot of work.”

After the meeting, Powell said he expected Harris to continue negotiations if she did not accept the salary.

“At this level, you expect that,” he said.