Wake school board begins discussion of budget plan for 23-24 with emphasis on staff pay

Wake County school board members are exploring increasing minimum wage higher than the $17 per hour proposed by Superintendent Catty Moore, while also discussing the possibility of needing to make cuts to the school system’s budget in the coming years.

The Wake County Board of Education discussed the superintendent’s proposed budget Tuesday, for the first time publicly since it was unveiled two weeks ago.

The school system’s vacancy rates remain high for bus staff, in particular, with about a third of driver and safety assistant positions open.

Pay raises have coincided with improved staffing rates for child nutrition services workers (from about 20% in fall 2021 to 8.6% in March) and instructional assistants (from about 10% in fall 2021 to 5.4% in March) but not for bus staff or teachers (still above 2%).

Board members cited employee pay and supports for special education and behavioral health as priorities to maintain in the budget.

“I think that’s something we need to keep our focus on,” Board Member Cheryl Caulfield said.

Much of the board’s discussion revolved around the uncertainty of budgeting, because they don’t yet know what will and won’t be a part of any new state budget.

“The state budget is really the biggest thing,” said Terri Kimzey, district senior director of budget.

Items that could affect how much the county needs to spend include whether the state also raises minimum wages for employees or reinstates Master’s degree pay for educators, or whether the state institutes class size requirements for fourth and fifth grade classes.

Wake County has 122 classrooms over the maximum size proposed in the House budget bill (27 students) and is over the proposed average class size limit (24 students) for fifth grade, potentially necessitating new teachers, reassignments, a change in how many teachers the district allots funds for per school, or the canceling of specials classes, such as art or music at some schools.

The state currently funds one teacher for every 24 fourth-grade or fifth-grade students, but schools often don’t have exactly that number in their classes. Often, schools choose to hire a specials teacher, or they are overcrowded and don’t have another classroom available.

Research shows smaller class sizes can correlate with higher test scores.

A bill in the North Carolina General Assembly also seeks to redirect some money currently held by traditional public school systems to public charter schools.

“We may see a lot of money normally for us, diverted off to charter schools,” Board Member Chris Heagarty said. “That will be money we’ll have to make room for in the budget.”

Proposed pay increases

During the school board’s finance committee, board members said they wanted to see how much it would cost to raise minimum wage even higher than the $17 per hour proposed by Moore, with board members suggesting $17.50, $17.80, $18 or $18.20 per hour. The current minimum wage is $16 per hour, while estimates of a living wage peg the minimum needed closer to $18.20 per hour.

Wake County Public School System officials said a raise to $18 per hour would likely cost about $12 million more dollars, above the amount already needed to get to $17 per hour.

Members of the North Carolina Association of Educators chapter in Wake County asked for $18.20 per hour in several public comments Tuesday night.

Pamela Winston, a bus safety assistant, said the conditions of the job can be frustrating, such as having to stand outside, in the rain or shine, until their work building opens, before they board their bus. Staff find the job meaningful, Winston said, suggesting that’s something the board can build upon to improve retention.

“We care about the children, we love the children,” Winston said.

Elementary school teacher Amy Bryan hopes higher pay will help recruit and retain more bus drivers. She said students miss valuable learning time when their bus is late to school or they are late because their bus never showed up. Families also get frustrated or worried when buses pick up or drop off students later than expected, Bryan said. One bus didn’t pick students up until 4:15 p.m. Monday.

Elementary school teacher Lindsay Lewis said she wants to make sure her school can keep its child nutrition services workers.

“I absolutely cannot do my job if my children are not properly fed,” Lewis said. Raising wages is the practical thing to do, rather than just the ideal thing to do, she said.

A raise above $17 per hour would be more competitive with wages in other sectors, some of which are often also for full-time employment. Public transit pays $17.56 per hour to $19 per hour to start, depending on the agency. Amazon and Walmart pay $17 per hour and $17.50 per hour, respectively. The school system is looking to hire people for full-time work, with benefits, for at least 10-month contracts. A person earning $17 per hour, working 35 hours per week for 10 months would earn about $24,000, before taxes.

Moore has also made employee pay in the staff-strained Wake County Public School System her top financial request for the next school year.

Moore wants to increase county funding to the school system by $55.8 million next year, to $650.1 million — a 9% increase in county funding and greater amount that the $53.5 million in new revenue Wake County expects to bring in next year.

Just less than half of that — $25.8 million — would go toward employee compensation.

The budget would raise hourly wages to a minimum of $17 per hour or a 4% pay increase for other “classified” staff, whichever is greater. Hourly employees earning more than that would also receive a raise, as each step of experience would earn slightly more than before. For “certified” employees — typically, educators — they would receive a 4.5% increase in the county’s salary supplement, amounting a few hundred more dollars each year for a teacher, depending on their years of experience. Occupational and physical therapists would also receive 4.5% raises.

Planning ahead

Moore’s proposed budget — which must be approved by the school board and then by the county commissioners — also asks for $12 million for maintenance, expects to provide more than $5 million to county charter schools outside of the school system, asks for $2 million for more school counselors and seeks $900,000 for instructional support technicians.

The school system is required to transfer a portion of its local funding to area charter schools, which the system does not operate.

County commissioners won’t vote on a final budget until June and will have to weigh the school board’s request alongside requests from other county departments.

‘Neglected’ facility needs

Tuesday’s board meeting also included numerous requests for more financial help, namely, for facilities.

They described mold, malfunctioning heat and air conditioning, a broken sink, a broken bathroom, a flooded science classroom and a rotten egg smell, among other things.

“We have a great staff and we’re making it work,” said Kiana Espinoza, an 8th grade teacher at Dillard Drive Magnet Middle School. “But we’re still struggling to have our needs met by our facilities.”

On Tuesday night, the school board approved the latest iteration of its seven-year capital improvement plan. That plan delays a new high school and replaces it with a renovation for Cary High School. It also adds four yet-to-be-identified renovation projects.

At recent board meetings, employees of West Cary Middle School have organized to ask for renovations at their school, which are currently not scheduled in the next seven years. Employees want to be included among the four unidentified renovation projects.

They argue the school is old and showing its age, with patchy walls, a damaged gym floor and other issues.

Emily Hooks, an eighth grade teacher there, said her students want renovations for future students and the growing community.

“Are you willing to make West Cary one of the four unnamed schools?” Hooks asked.