Teacher pay raise to be among CMS budget funding needs requested from Meck County
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board members are scheduled to meet with Mecklenburg County commissioners to discuss their approved 2024-2025 school year budget.
Commissioners will also need to approve the budget before it is finalized.
The school district’s budget is about $2 billion. They will ask the county for nearly $640 million in recurring operational costs. That’s $42.4 million more than the county contributed last year.
Of the roughly 2,300 residents who expressed their desire for more school support in local budgets, teacher salary, and staff retention have been among their highest priorities.
Initially, the district believed teachers would be getting around a three percent salary raise from the state, but Governor Roy Cooper’s recommended budget revealed a higher investment in teacher salaries than anticipated. The district now anticipates that certified staff, non-certified staff, and school-based administrators will see a 4.5 percent raise.
CMS also plans to bump the pay supplement for teachers with more than 25 years of experience.
“Our strategy here [is] we’re really targeting teachers in year 20+, and it’s all to retain all teachers, but we know that we need to be intentional about being able to retain our most experienced teachers as well,” said Superintendent Crystal Hill.
Another major investment in the latest budget is infrastructure.
In 2023, voters passed a $2.5 billion bond referendum that would support 30 projects in the district, but there are still other necessary construction projects the bond doesn’t cover.
CMS hired a consultant to assess 30 other sites that weren’t included in the bond, and they found that 68 percent of the components at those sites were considered poor or very poor. In total, they estimated those projects would cost $57.5 million to complete, but the district is recommending splitting that cost over three years.
On April 30, district staff revealed they anticipated saving $11.7 million from their 2017 infrastructure bond. They plan to use those savings as credit toward this new set of projects. With that in mind, they’re asking for $10 million for the upcoming school year to get started on those projects.
“Many of our facilities need additional help, and there’s a long list that they’ve been working on. Hopefully, that can go to helping air conditioning and HVAC and paving and digital signs,” said District 5 Board Member Lisa Cline.
Wednesday’s meeting between CMS board members and county commissioners is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at the Valerie C. Woodard Conference Center.
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