Education

Cumberland education officials approve $1,000 bonuses

The Cumberland County Board of Education decided in an emergency meeting Wednesday to give all full-time employees a $1,000 bonus on Dec. 15.

Posted Updated

By
Gilbert Baez, WRAL Fayetteville reporter,
and
Maggie Brown, WRAL multiplatform producer
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The Cumberland County Board of Education decided in an emergency meeting Wednesday to give employees a $1,000 bonus on Dec. 15. A second $1,000 bonus will be given to employees on May 15 for the spring semester.

The bonuses will be given to any staff member employed as of Oct. 31, district officials said in a release. In an effort to try and keep staff from quitting, the district decided to grant an additional $1,000 bonus to anyone still employed by April 29.

Each bonus cycle costs the district $9.3 million and will be paid using federal funds.

Employees who work for Cumberland County Schools have been demanding better pay through protests over the past week. More than 100 buses were stalled last week due to a "sick-out" staged by bus drivers. On Wednesday morning, only seven bus drivers called out sick, according to school officials.

More than a third of the 47,000 Cumberland County Schools students depend on bus service to get to school, and some families say their children will have to miss school on days when their bus driver is protesting.

While starting pay for school drivers in the district is only $12.21 an hour, drivers who spoke with WRAL News said low pay isn't the only problem. They said that they feel the district isn't doing enough to address the impact a shortage of drivers has had on them.

The district said its struggling to hire and keep new workers due to low wages and poor working conditions. The board of education decided to hire an outside firm to conduct a compensation study and make recommendations to the district.

Earlier this month, Cumberland County Schools officials met with more than 100 school bus drivers to hear their demands and offer solutions.

"The salaries are really driven by the state, so, at this time, we did not talk about specifically what salaries would look like moving forward," said Transportation Director Kristi Harden.

A new state budget proposal expected to be signed by Gov. Roy Cooper this week included a provision that the minimum hourly wage for non-certified school employees be raised to $13 this year and to $15 in the 2022-23 fiscal year. That state sets the baseline for pay in public schools, and individual counties can “supplement” those wages.

The district used to have a competitive supplemental package, but now education officials say they are falling behind.

"Determining the full cost (local, state, and federal) of adjusting our minimum hourly salary to $13.00 or $15.00 and the corresponding changes needed to ensure salaries of staff and supervisors do not become “compressed” is extremely complicated and if conducted internally could take an inordinate amount of time that we do not have given the state of labor market," a memorandum released by the board said.

Drivers say they are frustrated over a stalemate between the Cumberland County Board of Education and the county commissioners. The school budget is generated by the Board of Education, but the formula for requesting money for raises is complicated.

"If you raise for just one group, then you have many other groups within the district that did not get that same consideration," said Clyde Locklear, associate superintendent of business operations.

The back and forth between commissioners and the board of education will continue until the district's budget is approved.

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.