CC teacher salaries must improve, board members told

Charles City School Board members listened to suggestions from citizens and parents during a pre-budget public hearing on Nov. 7. One thing became evident in the suggestions: teachers and staff have to be better compensated.

After a presentation by financial analyst David Papenfuse on student projections for the upcoming years, those in attendance voiced concern over losing teachers in the school system to surrounding localities.

“We need to raise teacher salaries in order for this school system to be competitive,” said Judy Ledbetter, who’s been adamant on the issue since the completion of the 2012-13 fiscal budget.

“We should also create some sort of funding for teacher compensation,” she said.

Vendola Johnson, a bus driver for several years in the Charles City system, said cutbacks over the past years have hurt her financially.

“I was wondering if bus drivers were going to get raises,” she asked. “It’s been several years since that has happened.

“And what about drivers who drive out of the county?” she continued. “I depended on those stipends, no matter how small they were. Now I can’t even live paycheck to paycheck.”

District 2 board representative Barbara Crawley concurred with the concerns over lack of raises for employees.

“I want to suggest in this upcoming budget process that we try to get all employees a three percent raise,” she said. “As long as our pay is low, the teachers that come here are going to be trained in our system and then leave.”

School board members agreed in principle with Crawley’s suggestion about providing some sort of raise, but board chairman Steve Fuhrmann took a different stance when it came to providing pay increases for staff members.

“I believe raises are two-fold,” he said. “Raises are used for market competitiveness and to reward for performance.

“I’m not in favor of across-the-board raises,” he continued. “My personal belief is to compensate teachers for classroom performance and to bring teachers to the average salary for the central region.”

Fuhrmann also placed emphasis on areas that he’d like to discuss when budget decisions are being considered.

“I would like to increase field trips so that students can get more exposure,” he said. “I also remember us speaking about having an athletic fee for participation.

“I also would like to have a list of maintenance projections for the next five years,” he proposed. “Finally, I would like to see the expenditures for replacing buses.”

Other areas of emphasis for the 2013-14 fiscal budget recommended by the public included continued funding of the Appomattox Regional and Maggie Walker Governor’s schools, lengthening the school year back to 180 days, and maintaining the in-school suspension program.