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Henrico County supervisors and School Board members outlined several priorities to improve the quality of schools and teaching in the county during a joint meeting Monday, but it's unclear what addressing the issues will cost or if any will be addressed before supervisors adopt their Fiscal Year 2018-19 budget this month.
At the meeting, held at Hungary Creek Middle School, officials determined that the problems of class size, teacher salaries and classroom support were their top priorities. The meeting was an extension of conversations raised about the same issues during budget supervisors' annual budget review last month.
At a work session during that process, Brookland District Supervisor Courtney Lynch called for the appropriation of an $4.3 million – on top of the School Board's requested $485.1-million budget – to increase teacher salaries, though the School Board had not requested such funding.
Lynch's suggestion also would be in addition to a 2.4-percent raise for all eligible county employees (and an additional 0.6-percent raise for those who've been with the county six years or longer) proposed by County Manager John Vithoulkas as part of his FY 18-19 budget plan.
Lynch suggested the additional $4.3 million in order to position Henrico atop teacher pay scales in comparison to the City of Richmond, Chesterfield County and Hanover County.
County finance officials determined that $6 million in additional funding actually would be required to achieve that goal. The same study concluded that it would cost Henrico $29.2 million annually to surpass those three localities in hiring placement and salaries for all school system employees.
But many teachers may want more classroom, instructional or administrative support as opposed to a little extra money in their paychecks, School Board Chair Mickey Ogburn said.
Lynch, the only supervisor championing the additional teach pay raise, concentrated her discussion Monday of the priority issues on teacher pay, particularly the county’s current salary unified pay plan and its across-the-board raise structure.
She was critical of the plan, implemented in 1986, which offers the same standards of pay and increases to all eligible county employees.
Lynch pointed to salary compression – when less experienced employees are hired at market salary rates that are similar to more senior and experienced employees – as a major problem and consequence of the unified pay structure.
The county has a teacher shortage crisis, Lynch said, and the problem should be addressed with a free-market approach.
“Teachers are scarce,” Lynch said. “Custodians are not.”
But a problem with targeting only teachers for salary raises is that other county employees would feel shorted, Varina District Supervisor Tyrone Nelson said.
“At the end of the day, we have to care for all of these employees that work for Henrico County,” Nelson said.
The Board of Supervisors will vote on the 2019 fiscal budget on April 24. Amendments to the approved budget can be made before July 1.
Tuckahoe District School Board member Lisa Marshall called for a comprehensive study asking teachers in the county what exactly would help them, as the county continues discussions of class size, support and teacher pay.
“We are grateful that we are even having this discussion” Ogburn said of the meeting. “And our teachers and our students are going to benefit greatly.”
