‘We need master’s pay.’ Wake school social workers say they’re hurting financially.

Wake County school social workers who help struggling families say they’re the ones now who are struggling financially and need a pay raise.

Multiple school social workers have spoken at Wake County school board meetings since December about how low pay is causing some colleagues to go to food pantries or quit the district. The social workers say one way to help is to restore the extra pay that used to be provided to all school social workers who held master’s degrees.

“Please consider the financial struggles that our dedicated, highly trained school social workers of Wake County have expressed to you,” Megan Pohl, a school social worker, said at a school board meeting this month. “End this practice of shortchanging social workers and help us provide our own families with the magic that we provide our students’ families with master’s level pay for a master’s level position.”

Wake County school leaders say they’re looking into the issue.

A question for Wake is whether to fund the extra pay itself or instead hope the state will restore the benefit it used to provide.

“We anticipate that the board will request additional information about the status of master’s pay during the upcoming budget season for all educators who were impacted by the state’s change in 2013,” Lisa Luten, a district spokesperson, said in an email.

Can’t provide for their families

School social workers help identify the barriers that are keeping students from succeeding academically. This includes mental health referrals, suicide risk assessments and helping families with needs such as food and housing.

Pohl told the board that she had provided more than 30 families with an entire Thanksgiving meal and helped 50 families provide children with Christmas gifts. But Pohl said by the time she had paid her bills, including repaying student loans for her master’s degree, she didn’t have any money left for Christmas gifts for her daughter.

“I spent night after night crying knowing that I couldn’t help provide my own child with the Christmas magic that I helped so many others obtain,” Pohl said.

Brittany Lara and her wife, Phong (Helen) Nguyen, came to the board’s December meeting to talk about how their salaries as school social workers weren’t enough due to medical bills following childbirth complications.

Lara said she worries about how to pay for baby formula, diapers and other needs when faced with $15,000 in medical bills and $15,000 in dental bills.

“I spend my Saturdays visiting food pantries: the same food pantries that I give my families. And it’s impacting the time I spend with my children,” Lara said. “My time is already limited with them throughout the week and now I’m missing out on the important things I shouldn’t have to miss out on as a first-time parent.”

Following Lara’s speech, Nancy Haywood, a Cary parent, organized a campaign to collect clothing, formula and toys for the couple.

‘Advocate for ourselves’

Until a decade ago, social workers like Lara, Nguyen and Pohl would have received an additional 10% boost in pay from the state for having a master’s degree. The same extra pay for advanced degrees was also given to North Carolina teachers.

But the Republican-led state legislature eliminated the benefit in 2013, saying teachers should be paid based on performance and not on their credentials.

Teachers and social workers who already were receiving the extra pay before the 2014-15 school year or who had completed at least one course before Aug. 1, 2013, and went on to get their master’s degree were grandfathered.

Positions such as school counselors and school psychologists that require a master’s degree still receive the extra pay from the state.

North Carolina doesn’t require school social workers to have a master’s degree. But several social workers say Wake only hires people who have a master’s degree.

The starting salary for a Wake County school social worker with no experience is $43,784. Social workers would get around $5,000 more per year if they were paid for their master’s degree.

Miriam Hill estimates she’s missed out on more than $40,000 in income over the past eight years due to not being paid for her master’s degree as a social worker. She warned that Wake will have a lot more than 14 vacancies if action isn’t taken..

“If this issue is not resolved, students, families and schools will suffer as vacancies increase and it becomes harder and harder to hire new school social workers as they could make more money elsewhere,” Hill told the board in December. “We advocate for our families and students daily, and it’s time that we advocate for ourselves.”

Will extra pay be provided?

Some speakers have urged Wake to lobby the state to restore the master’s degree benefit. The State Board of Education is asking the General Assembly to restore the benefit and provide an extra $10 million to increase the pay for social workers.

“I recognize that the master’s pay issue is not something that this board has created or controls,” Haywood, the Cary parent, told the board in January. “Nevertheless, I am here tonight to ask that our superintendent, our school board please work with the county commissioners to encourage our legislators to put master’s pay back in place.

“I ask not only for social workers but for our teachers as well. It is important that those who take care of our children make a living wage.”

Some social workers are urging Wake to act regardless of what the state may do. Luten, the district spokesperson, said staff haven’t determined how much it would cost financially if Wake were to provide the master’s pay increase out of local funds.

“We know our worth, and it’s more than what the county is giving us,” Nguyen, the social worker, told the board in December. “We need master’s pay and we need it now.

“All of our financial burdens could be alleviated with master’s pay. You all have access to funds that we do not. We cannot afford to continue losing great social workers because of the pay.”