Aiken County school board debates pay increases during budget workshop

Apr. 15—The Aiken County Board of Education heard a budget update during a special called meeting Tuesday.

Tray Traxler, the chief officer of finance, told school board members about what the upcoming budget looks like, while adding that it could change depending on the state budget.

During his presentation, Traxler talked about budget requests, one of which was an increased supplemental pay for athletics over a four-year period.

"It was, in essence, increasing head coaches by 40% at the high school level, AD's at 40%, assistant coaches by 20%, increasing middle school head coaches by 50%," Traxler said. "...we looked at the option of phasing that in over four years, making progress. The total price tag on that would be $500,000 approximately."

Several board members voiced their support for an increase to athletics pay, but mentioned looking at it upfront and not over a four-year period. School board member Brian Silas stated he is happy that the athletics supplement is a top priority, but told a story about an Athletic Directors Conference where something happened that made him embarrassed for the school district.

"...it was conveyed to me that there was some discussion in their big group session about AD supplements and coaches supplements, I guess I can imagine there was grumbling going on," Silas said. "...as my understanding, the Greenville, maybe the athletic director or maybe he's the head of the group, he was in front of everybody speaking and said 'you should be appreciative of what you have because at least you don't live in Aiken County.' And then I think he called out one of our athletic directors specifically and said 'how many classes do you teach?' And this athletic director said 'four.' There was a gasp in the room I can imagine. His point was at least you don't live in Aiken County, that should be embarrassing to this district, and it is to me as a board member."

Silas added that while this increase to the athletic supplement is a step in the right direction, there's still work to be done. The possible loss of coaches will also be felt in the classroom.

"Additionally to that, I think South Aiken ... has lost or is losing four coaches, let's say as a result, let's just face it, coaches want to coach, they feed their families that way, they love doing that, they're going to go where it's a more attractive coaching supplement," Silas said. "Guess what else they do? They teach, so we're losing teachers there as a result, and that's something that we shouldn't forget either. I know I've leaned on that quite a bit, and I'm going to lean on it again because this an opportunity we have, I'm going to say to do what's right."

Board member Dwight Smith agreed with Silas, stating board members have been asking for an increase in the athletics supplements.

"Our coaching supplement is way out of line compared to districts our size around the state," Smith said. "...you said earlier this isn't the year to do it. It hasn't been the year to do it for years...this hasn't been a priority to us...we've got some aides that are coaching that are outstanding, but we also have some that we need more professionalism...I'm telling you up front, I'm not going to support a four-year phase in, no. These coaches deserve to be able to hire somebody to help them do their job and coach our kids at the highest level, and we're not getting that."

Traxler addressed having enough funds to do the increase and mentioned that the school board does have some options to achieve this if they want it.

"I do want to point out, I think probably most everyone is clear, even with these being top priorities, this isn't one of those years where we've got things into the budget that we're required to and we have some money leftover. We're not in one of those situations," Traxler said. "In order to address some of these, we have options that I've shared, we're not going to say we can't do these items or anything else. It'll depend on what other steps we take to accomplish that."

Priority items for the school district including school staffing allocations, which is driven by student projections, salaries, state retirement, state health and other obligations. The state retirement and state health are set by the state. Traxler said some of the items are required, including teacher step increase, teacher COLA and bus driver increase. A step increase for non-teachers is also being considered.

"The state doesn't require a step increase for non-teachers, but historically we've given non-teachers a step increase," Traxler said.

A step is determined by looking at the teacher's certificate and years of experience, Traxler said.

"Whenever we looked at teacher salaries this time, because of the House version of the budget is the latest version we're looking at, we increased those cells $4,000...That would mean we're increasing the teacher scale, ROTC, nurses, psych scale, those other groups are treated like nurses, those are ones required to give the step increases to," Traxler said.

In regards to bus drivers, the House budget requires a 5% COLA increase for drivers, along with a 3% COLA for state employees. This means bus drivers could receive an 8% increase, Traxler said, because they have to treat bus drivers as state employees.

For other employees, the district is looking at giving a step increase, but not a cost of living adjustment, Traxler said. He added that the salary and fringe benefits are around 90% of the budget.

The state retirement is looking at an at least 1% increase, Traxler said.

"We know the retirement percentage is going up at least 1% to 23.81, but what we don't know is if this insurance surcharge will go up, and it has historically. Prior to the last two years it's gone up 1%," Traxler said.

In regards to the state health insurance, that amount is projected to increase 18.1%, Traxler told board members.

"It's not going to be finalized until August, but we haven't heard anything otherwise to this point, so we're basing our numbers on the 18.1% increase," Traxler said.

The governor's funding plan is calling for an increase in the state-wide minimum teacher scale, but there is some confusion about how much. The House plan calls for a $4,000 increase, but the Senate plan calls for a $2,000 increase.

Traxler stated the school district has several options to meet budget requests and increases in items, including a tax increase, use of fund balance, increasing teacher scale by less than $4,000, other eliminations, or a combination of any of the options. There is also the option of not doing anything beyond what is required and funding necessary items that are currently in the draft budget.

Due to waiting on the state to finish their budget, the school district's budget could change by the second reading in May, he said.

A first reading of the budget will be held on Tuesday, April 19. A public hearing will be held on May 10 and a second and final reading is scheduled for May 24.

To view the meeting online, visit acpsd.net.