Charles City School Board ups raises to seven percent, adopts FY2023-24 budget

With a shift in dollars to increase the raises on teacher’s salary, Charles City’s School Board adopted a $10.8 million budget for the FY2023-24 cycle during a May 25 special meeting.

School board members adopted the budget two days after Charles City’s Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to fulfill the school’s local request of $6,502,486.

The only major change to the school’s $10,805,970 budget was a shift in funds to support a seven percent raise. To support this increase from five percent to seven percent, an additional $169,124 had to be shifted within the school’s proposed budget. Charles City Superintendent of Schools Dalphine Joppy recommended that the hiring of an additional math interventionalist and Medicaid billing specialist be shifted to the ESSER (Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief) grant funds for one year. She also added that finding an alternate method to afford elementary school physical education equipment and savings in the energy performance contract would provide enough for the employee’s increase.

The Capitol Improvement Plan (CIP) still totals $1,290,857, but Joppy says that an additional $40,000 may need to be found to assist with the replacement of the school’s wastewater treatment plant due to rising costs. The wastewater treatment plant replacement is currently tabbed at $1,080,660.

After the school board adopted the FY2023-24 budget, Joppy also announced that retention bonuses would be given to employees who re-sign with the school system. The superintendent indicated that employees who have had longer tenures would receive higher bonuses. Bonuses range from $1,000 for employees with less than two years in the school system to $3,000 for employees with more than 30 years employed by Charles City County Schools.