DCPS board approves raises for teachers, staff

James Mayse, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
·2 min read

The Daviess County Board of Education gave its approval Tuesday to what school officials said is the largest pay raise teachers and staff members have received since the 2007-08 school year.

Meanwhile certain groups of classified employees, such as bus drivers, will be receiving wage adjustments in some cases as high as 15%.

Board members approved 4% pay raises for employees at Tuesday’s board luncheon. Staff receive annual increases based on years of experience, so the 4% will be on top of the annual increase.

“It’s the largest increase we’ve had in 16 years,” Superintendent Matt Robbins told board members.

“We would like it to be higher, of course,” Robbins said.

Last year, employees received a 2% pay increase, Harley said.

Sara Harley, the district’s director of finance said the pay increases will be offset by an increase in state Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) funding, and a projected increase in property tax assessments.

Property assessments are expected to increase 6% in fiscal year 2024-25, Harley said, while the district will receive an additional $2.2 million in SEEK funding. Total SEEK dollars for the year will increase to $39.2 million.

Classified employees will receive market wage adjustments between 5% and 15%. Those employees include bus drivers and bus monitors, instructional assistants, custodians, food service staff, lunch monitors and health techs, according to a DCPS press release issued after the board luncheon.

The size of the increase “varies by category” of the employee category, Harley said.

DCPS officials did a survey of what other school districts were paying classified employees, basing increases on that and other factors.

The hope, Harley said, is that the increases will help the school district attract classified staff.

“For our custodians, we have multiple openings,” Harley said. “We can’t hire custodians” and that the district faced the same situation with food service staff members.

Board Chairman James Morgan said employees “love what they do, and are very deserving” of the raises.

In other business, board members approved the district’s 2024-25 budget, which includes the salary increases. Harley said the budget also includes $960,000 or replacement of six school buses.

Caleb York, assistant superintendent for human services, said funding in the state budget approved this year will allow DCPS to hire to additional Family Resource and Youth Services Center coordinators.

With the additional hires, only Country Heights Elementary and Whitesville Elementary will share a Family Resource coordinator, York said. Family Resource and Youth Service Center coordinators work to fill family and student needs to help eliminate barriers to education.