Teacher pay a focus for next year’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools budget
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — It’s a hot topic that has school districts nationwide trying to figure out what they can do to keep a vital role in the classroom.
Teacher shortages after the pandemic are still plaguing classrooms across the country. Teachers cite low pay as the primary reason they’re calling it quits.
Teacher pay was the focus of new CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill’s budget. She presented the plan to school board members last night.
The district is asking for millions of dollars to give educators a salary bump.
“The community has repeatedly expressed that education is a top priority for Mecklenburg County residents, which must be supported financially,” said school board member Stephanie Sneed.
In various community engagement sessions since early February, 2,300 participants said school support was at the forefront of their minds with teacher salary and staff retention rounding out the top three.
“We’re continuously trying to improve our salary for our teachers here for CMS by increasing our supplement and being the highest-paid district, as far as supplement goes, in the state,” said CMS Chief Financial Officer Kelly Kluttz.
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Of the $1.9 billion budget plan, the CMS school district is asking for almost $632 million from Mecklenburg County. That’s an increase of $35 million with $14.2 million of that going toward teacher salaries and increased teacher supplements.
Here’s how that would break down: State salaries for beginning teachers, which are determined by the state legislature, will increase by $2,000 from this year to next year. The local supplement CMS offers is a percentage of that (roughly 19%) which would bring it to a total bump of $2,300 for beginning teachers resulting in almost $49,000 for the 215-day school year.
It’s for teachers with 25+ years of experience where CMS is increasing its contribution.
“Our strategy here where we’re really targeting teachers in year 20+ and it’s all to retain all teachers,” said Superintendent Crystal Hill, “but we know that we need to be intentional about being able to retain our most experienced teachers as well.”
Currently, there are about 1,400 teachers in years 25+, and almost 9,500 in years 0-24.
The plan would inch Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools closer to first place in teacher supplements, and as a result overall pay, putting the district only slightly behind Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools.
The school board is hosting a virtual session on the budget at 6 p.m. on April 22 for those who would like to listen in.
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