Raises for all Maury County school employees moves forward with board approval

The Maury County School Board approved Tuesday raises for all employees to be reflected in the budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

A 2.5% raise for all employees, and a 50-cent raise for those who it would benefit more, was considered by the school board, amounting to $154.1 million.

Some board members voiced concern, particularly Michael Fulbright, who said he was not a fan of doing different raises for different groups of employees.

“I think we’re just setting ourselves up for a lot of mass confusion, and potentially some hard feelings from employees,” Fulbright said.

The alternative would be a flat 2.5% raise across the board for all employees.

School board vice chair Jackson Carter concurred with Fulbright.

“You’re looking at the 2.5% and the 50 (cents), and I think that’s just setting the stage for people to wonder: ‘Why’d I get this and not this?’ And that’s a lot of math that we’re going to have to explain,” Carter said.

“We preach equality and equity behind this board pretty frequently, and I think that we have the option to do this and create confusion or within a couple of pennies do something that is the same for everyone that is equitable, is equal and I just think that’s probably what we ought to do.”

School board chair Will Sims voiced his support for the measure, pointing out that someone making $14.62 an hour would only receive a raise of 36 cents under the flat 2.5% raise.

“They’re at the bottom, and they’re gonna get the bottom portion of the raise again. And the gulf widens with that straight percentage raise,” Sims said.

The vote passed.

Four "nays" came from board members Austin Hooper, Jackson Carter, Michael Fulbright, and Steve McGee.

Next the board voted on the food services budget separately, including the raises in question. The first motion was to approve a 2.5% flat raise for all nutrition employees.

Board member Austin Hooper justified his decision to put the motion forward. While he acknowledged it was a difficult decision, he reminded the board that they’re already running at a deficit, and are now choosing to run an even larger one.

“I’m not opposed to raises, but I am opposed to spending money that we don’t have,” Hooper said.

The vote did not pass. Board members Bettye Kinser, Jamila Brown, Kristen Shull, Michael Fulbright, Wayne Lindsey and Will Sims voted nay.

Another motion was introduced to approve instead a 2.5% increase or a 50 cent increase in wages for all nutrition employees, depending on which would better benefit the employee in question. The motion passed with three nays coming from board members Hooper, Carter, and McGee.

The full school operational budget as well as wage increase proposals will go to the county commission for approval.

The commission can either send the budget forward, or be sent back to the school board for further adjustment.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Raises for Maury Co. school employees inch forward with board approval