The Fayette County Board of Education on Dec. 15 gave unanimous approval to a 1 percent pay raise for nearly all school system employees.
Assistant Superintendent of Business and Personnel Management Tom Gray said the 1 percent increase will total $842,000.
The unanimous board vote gave the salary increase a Jan. 1 effective date.
Gray said the school system currently has 2,989 people on the payroll. Of that number, 2,589 are eligible for the increase. Those receiving the increase include all teachers, administrators, parapros, nurses, clerical, facilities workers, custodians, school nutrition, after school program, bus drivers and other support personnel, Gray said.
The salary increase does not include board members, the superintendent or substitute/temporary employees.
“This is a good Christmas present and it will give a little bit of leverage when recruiting,” said Superintendent Jody Barrow.
Based on the current revenue collection rates, local revenues are projected to exceed the FY 2015 budget by over $2.1 million, Gray said in a Dec. 11 letter.
“In addition, budgetary savings in salary, benefits and operations are projecting toward a $3.3 million budgetary surplus,” Gray said.
Gray said budget savings are the result of salary savings from temporarily unfilled or vacant positions, health insurance participation rate estimated impact and a delay in expenditures for systemwide software projects such as those in the finance, human resources and transportation departments.
“We feel like we can sustain this over time, especially given the current operating structure and based on finances,” said Barrow.
Noting that the salary reductions and furlough days during the recession presented staff with a “tough time,” Barrow said, “When people do the work I think you ought to recognize that.”
Board member Barry Marchman during the brief discussion said he was not sure if Fayette County is competitive with the rest of metro Atlanta and asked Barrow to monitor Fayette’s salary competitiveness.
Board members Dan Colwell and Bob Todd agreed, with Todd saying highly qualified teachers are of critical importance and Colwell saying he wants to keep looking at the issue into the future.
