RALEIGH -- In the face of larger class sizes, layoffs and frozen salaries across the state, about 1,600 Wake County teachers will get a small pay raise this year. State legislators froze salaries for teachers and state employees this year to help close a record multi-billion dollar budget shortfall. But with a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Wake school board agreed to spend local dollars to give educators who've recently completed five, 10, 15, 20 or 25 years of teaching a raise of $200 to $350 this year. It was a $420,000 decision that drew cheers from educators not expecting to get any extra money in their paychecks this year. Wake, like many school districts, adds local money to the amount the state pays teachers. Wake school leaders said they wanted to give raises to at least some of the district's 9,000 teachers so that they're not lured to other districts offering more pay.
Other systems' plans
Stephen Gainey said Chapel Hill-Carrboro and the Johnston County school system are taking similar steps this year to provide teacher raises. Stephanie Knott, a spokeswoman for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district, said some teachers will see a slight increase in their pay if they're moving from one level to the next based on their years of experience. Johnston County teachers who have 8, 16 or 25 years of experience will see their regularly scheduled local pay increases this year.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
5 comments:
I think this is a nice idea,but one can only assume that these counties have not financially shortchanged the students educational needs to give these raises. I know that most schools in this area have cut short the number of copies teachers may make, limited the ink and paper available for printing.
A raise would be great, but I think the students needs must be met first.
Your point is well taken and only selected teachers at certain levels of experience got the raises.
Most teachers would welcome a raise, but at what cost. I am not sure if giving a selected group of teachers, about 15%, a one time $200-$350 annual raise is the answer to keeping qualified teachers in their district. If the funds were already there and needed to be spent on specific areas then this is a great way to spend local funds. If this is not the case then local funds could have been spent on the students' needs instead of teacher raises. I agree with Anne on that.
Wake County did what they thought was necessary to ensure that they kept qualified teachers. I'm sure that the teachers who received the raise were very grateful. However only 1600 out of 9000 qualified. My only question: Is it a one-time deal? I agree with Anne that the money could have been allocated for student instructional needs but who is to say that their county government would have given the money for instructional items.
This is great for the select group of teachers who recieved the raise. However, I am guessing it probably caused some discord among the teachers in the district. I feel the money would have been better spent on the needs of students instead a select group of teachers.
Post a Comment