Wake County public school educators held a "walk-in" at seven schools and one school bus depot early Tuesday morning to call for pay raises in their local salary supplements funded by the county.
At Abbotts Creek Elementary in Raleigh, educators rallied alongside carpool lines as students arrived. Several educators held signs that said “Fair Pay = Teachers Stay.” Then teachers and staff at the rally headed into their building to begin the school day.
“We want to make sure that our students come first, and we care about our job, so we are walking in,” said first grade teacher Mary Todd Earnhardt.
The Wake County chapter of the North Carolina Association of Educators is calling to raise pay for all Wake County public school school staff to a minimum of $18 per hour and for a 4.5% raise to certified employees, which includes teachers.
"We have been to three school board meetings. We delivered over 3,000 petition signatures and (there’s been) no movement on raises,” said Christina Spears, president of the Wake County chapter of the North Carolina Association of Educators.
Until today, when the school board released budget materials that show it will discuss four options to raise pay for school support staff to between $17.50 and $18.25 per hour. The board will hold its last work session this afternoon to discuss budget proposals, and the board intends to vote on a budget next week.
North Carolina school employee salaries are funded primarily by the state budget, with additional salary supplements funded by county taxes. School boards decide how to spend local funding by approving their school district’s budget request to their local board of county commissioners.
State lawmakers have also begun the legislative short session, and could consider funding teacher pay raises using a portion of the state’s $1 billion tax surplus for the fiscal year that starts in July.
Educators are asking the Wake County school board to uphold a multi-year plan approved by the board in prior years to raise the local salary supplement incrementally over five years to an $18 per hour minimum for support staff by fall 2024. But that raise wasn't in Superintendent Robert Taylor’s proposed budget that the board discussed in past budget sessions.
“It feels like our school board is walking out by inaction, by not taking action on the thing they said they were going to do,” Spears said.
Educators at the rally said they hoped board members will reconsider and vote to amend the superintendent’s budget proposal in keeping with the board's multi-year plan.
Update: Wake County school board revises budget proposal to raise pay for support staff, but it still falls short of ask
Later that day, the Wake County school board decided to revise its budget proposal.
The option the board chose would give certified staff, including teachers, a 4 percent raise and would increase the minimum pay for support staff to $17.75 an hour.
The superintendent's budget proposed a $17.50 an hour minimum wage for support staff. To help pay for that raise, the board also proposes to hold positions vacant in the district's human resources department, to remove a proposed reduction in student parking fees, and to shift funding sources for certain programs.
After some discussion, board members also decided to keep a request to fund long-term substitute teachers in buildings.
"While the building subs can only cover one class, it saves one teacher, one instructional assistant or one administrator from having to take away their valuable time," said board member Lindsay Mahaffey.
This revised budget proposal would cost about $5 million more than the superintendent's original budget ask. It would require about a $63 million increase in county funds to schools.
The school board will vote next Tuesday on the budget proposal before sending it to the Wake County Board of Commissioners. Several board members expressed concern that the Board of Commissioners may not fully fund the request, because it would likely require local tax increases.
"I don't have a problem with asking for what we need. I feel like that is our job," said school board member Lynn Edmonds.
If the board of commissioners does not fully fund the school board's final budget proposal, the school board will have to revise its budget.
The school district's final budget will also depend on any changes to state funding that state lawmakers might make in the legislative session that began this month.
