Wake schools want to pay more for minimum salaries. But where will the money come from?
Wake County school leaders warned Tuesday that they’ll need an increase in local taxpayer dollars this year to help pay for employee raises to address staffing shortages.
This school year, the school board has approved $5,000 in employee bonuses and across-the-board pay raises, including raising the minimum salary for support staff to $15 an hour. But school leaders said Tuesday that they’re still facing big staffing challenges and will need the county’s help for a plan to pay more than $15 an hour minimum salary.
“Fifteen dollars an hour, we’ve really done some research, is no longer considered to be a living wage,” said David Neter, the Wake school system’s chief business officer.
The presentation came at a joint meeting of the Wake County Board of Commissioners and the school board. Commissioners now fund 28% of the district’s $1.9 billion annual operating budget.
Last year, commissioners fully funded the school board’s request for an additional $16 million in local funding. But this year, the county is facing its own financial challenges, including many vacant positions.
How much of an increase won’t be known until April 5 when Superintendent Cathy Moore presents her proposed 2022-23 school operating budget. The school board will review the budget before submitting it to commissioners.
Vacancies affect student learning
School districts across the state and nation are facing major staffing shortages that are forcing existing workers to do more. The frustration boiled over last fall, with some school bus drivers and cafeteria workers holding sick-outs to protest working conditions in Wake.
These vacancies are affecting the school district’s core business of educating students, Neter said. Due to the driver shortage, he said students may miss instructional time when they arrive late in the morning and miss time to do homework getting home late in the afternoon.
The school board has used federal COVID relief funds to pay for bonuses for employees.
In December, the school board also approved a plan that raises the salaries for all employees, especially for support staff to $15 an hour, with higher rates for positions such as instructional assistants and bus drivers. All support staff employees got at least a 5.3% raise, with the biggest raises of more than 40% going to the lowest-paid workers.
Neter said officials have seen limited improvement in recruitment efforts, even with the higher salaries and bonuses. He said they saw bigger recruitment improvements among cafeteria workers, who had been making $11 an hour.
Moving forward, school officials listed as their biggest hiring challenges finding enough bus drivers, cafeteria workers, skilled craftsmen, special education teachers, instructional assistants and central office administrative professionals.
“There’s one priority that stands out above all others … and it’s staff compensation,” Neter said. “Public education is a human resources intensive business.”
The school district says it wants to go beyond the $15 an hour minimum salary that state lawmakers say they will fund next school year for support staff.
In North Carolina, the state funds the salaries of many, but not all school employees. In addition to the locally funded positions, school districts use their county dollars to supplement state pay.
COVID-19 aid ‘fiscal cliff’
Some critics of the school board say that Wake should first tap into COVID-19 relief funds to meet its budget needs.
School administrators presented a report Tuesday estimating that they’ll have $176.5 million out of $431.4 million in pandemic funds left as of July 1. They’ll have two more years to spend the remaining money.
Staff bonuses will account for $64.7 million of the $255 million spent through June 30. More than $60 million was also spent on summer learning programs and addressing student learning loss.
Neter warned they have to be careful how to use the COVID money. He said they’ve already got a $35 million “fiscal cliff” where they’ll have to replace the COVID dollars now being used on things such as paying for more counselors and school maintenance staff.
“These funds aren’t going to continue forever,” Neter said.
Asking NC for more money for schools
Commissioner Susan Evans proposed forming a group of school board members and commissioners to brainstorm ways to lobby state lawmakers to increase school funding. The discussion came as the N.C. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal over whether a judge can order the state to turn over $1.7 billion to increase school funding.
“We need to let the General Assembly understand the significance of public education,” said Sig Hutchinson, chairman of the Wake County Board of Commissioners. “It has made North Carolina what it is today and we need it to keep us on top.”
Commissioners and school board members talked about recruiting the business community in the lobbying efforts.
“We have a golden opportunity right now,” said school board member Roxie Cash. “Business leaders are concerned about learning loss.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2022 at 9:05 PM.
