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By PAMELA GOULD, EMILY BATTLE
As budgeting for the next school year gets into full swing, teachers in the Fredericksburg area have some support for pay raises, but finding money to fund those wishes could pose an insurmountable challenge.
Fredericksburg would like to increase teacher pay 2 percent, and a Stafford County task force supports a pay raise there, but the Spotsylvania County School Board expects to struggle just to maintain current earnings for instructional staff.
The good news for Spotsylvania teachers, however, is that their county's teacher pay scale is tops in the region from Step 7 forward.
Fredericksburg teachers earn the highest salary in the region for the first six steps of their pay scale, but then Spotsylvania--the jurisdiction with the highest-paid superintendent--takes the lead, according to data from the school divisions.
However, since Spotsylvania teachers haven't received a step increase since the 2007-08 school year, their actual pay may lag behind that of teachers in Stafford, who received step increases in the 2008-09 school year and in April will receive a portion of the $6 million surplus recently discovered in that county's coffers.
Culpeper and Orange counties pay rookie teachers more than does Stafford, the area's largest school system. And Culpeper's pay continues to outpace Stafford's through Step 6, according to data for the 2009-10 school year.
State and local officials have said they want to raise teacher salaries, but the recession has put that on hold.
Virginia's average teacher salary--$46,796--ranked 30th among all states in the latest nationwide survey, which was based on 2007-08 pay.
Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972
Email: pgould@freelancestar.com
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Stafford County School Superintendent David Sawyer said it's "too early to even consider a recommendation" on teacher pay for the next school year. However, a compensation task force, which included administrators, teachers and others, recommended step increases and cost-of-living raises for the coming school year. Also, most candidates in November's School Board races had platforms that called for raising employee pay. The division would need about $1.9 million to fund a 1 percent cost-of-living raise, according to the compensation task force's report. Stafford teachers received no pay increase for the current school year, but the School Board voted last month to give most teachers and other employees an average 2.5 percent step increase effective April 1. Members took the action after receiving a little more than $1 million of an unexpected $6.2 million surplus in county funds. Teachers received step increases--but no cost-of-living increase--in the 2008-09 school year. They got 0.75 percent cost-of-living raises and 2.5 percent step increases the year before. Jeff Branscome: 540/374-5402 |
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Spotsylvania County Superintendent Jerry Hill started the school division's first work session on the next budget declaring there would be no pay raises or step increases for teachers because of $3.2 million in cuts that will be needed for fiscal 2011. But School Board members James Gillespie, Ray Lora and Linda Wieland say they want to find a way to be sure teachers don't end up with a decrease in pay as a result of expected increases in health insurance premiums and costs of the state retirement system. And board member Amanda Blalock said she'll press for a cost-of-living increase for teachers to help them through these tough economic times. She also acknowledged the expected increases in health care and retirement costs. The last time Spotsylvania teachers got a pay increase was in the 2008-09 school year, when they received a 2.5 percent cost-of-living increase. The last step increase came the year before. In the 2007-08 school year, teachers got a 2.5 percent step increase and a 2 percent COLA increase. Other school employees got the same COLA increase but an average 1 percent step increase. Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972 |
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Fredericksburg school finance chief David Baker said the division hopes to give teachers a 2 percent pay increase for the next school year, which would cost the city roughly $500,000. However, the City Council expects to face at least a $2.1 million shortfall in the next budget and has directed city staff to draft a budget with no tax increases. As a result, cuts will be needed from the city budget. Teachers in Fredericksburg received no pay increase for the current school year, and got their last raise a year ago. City teachers got a 4 percent pay increase in the 2008-09 school year. They received an 8 percent pay raise the year before. That was meant to be the start of a three-year effort to bring city teachers' pay scale to a level more competitive with neighboring jurisdictions. At the time, school and city officials discussed the possibility of 6 percent raises over the next two years, but the declining economy and other pressures on city revenues made that impossible. Emily Battle: 540/374-5413 |
Orange County Superintendent Bob Grimesey doesn't foresee teacher raises in the coming school year since he expects at least a 10 percent cut in the next school division budget. "It could get even worse if the new governor and the General Assembly make more cuts to public education," he said. Westmoreland School Board Chairman Daniel Wallace's assessment was similar, saying it looks "bleak for any sort of increase in salaries." Predictions for the coming school year were unavailable for Caroline, Culpeper and King George counties. Culpeper teachers' pay has been frozen the past two years, but that followed an 8.1 percent hike that put the county's starting salaries among the highest in the region. Teachers in Orange, Caroline, King George and Westmoreland counties saw their last pay raise in the 2008-09 school year. Those increases were 4 percent in King George, 2 percent step increases in Westmoreland and 1 percent cost-of-living raises and step increases in Caroline. Orange's increase was unavailable last week. --Robin Knepper and Jeff Branscome |
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39,407 Fredericksburg 38,000 Spotsylvania County 37,620 Culpeper County 36,797 Orange County 36,322 Stafford County 36,279 Westmoreland County 36,000 King George County 35,750 Caroline County |
