‘We mean business!’ Wake teachers and bus drivers rally for higher pay raises.

Wake County school leaders agreed Tuesday to ask for higher employee raises this year the same day that teachers and bus drivers held protests around the district.

The Wake County school board gave tentative approval Tuesday to a plan that includes pay raises for teachers as well as a higher minimum salary for bus drivers and other school support staff. The board will now ask the Wake County Board of Commissioners for a $63.2 million increase in local funding this year.

“Our board came together and made changes in compensation for our teachers, for our other very vital, important school staff like our bus drivers,” school board chair Chris Heagarty told reporters after Tuesday’s budget work session.

The school board will officially vote on the budget plan next week, Heagarty said they’ll have to adjust if the commissioners don’t agree to the additional funding.

The board decision came several hours after school employees held rallies before classes started at seven schools and the district’s main school bus yard to push for higher pay.

Higher raises for school employees

Last month, Wake County Superintendent Robert Taylor released a proposed budget that asks commissioners for a $58.3 million increase in local funding.

Taylor’s budget includes the state’s expected 3% raise this year for teachers and other school employees.

Board members told Taylor that the proposed raises aren’t good enough.

The board reviewed four budget options on Tuesday that include a mix of pay raises and some cuts to mitigate the requested increase in county funding.

The option the board picked will add nearly $5 million to the increase proposed by Taylor. Under the revised plan:

▪ Teachers could get a 4% increase in the salary supplement that Wake provides to boost the base salaries paid by the state.

▪ The minimum salary for school bus drivers could rise to $20 an hour.

▪ Other non-certified staff, such as cafeteria workers and teacher assistants, could get a minimum salary of $17.75 an hour or a 4% raise — whichever is greater.

“Folks understand that 4% will get them what they need,” Christina Spears, president of the Wake County chapter of the North Carolina Association of Educators, told reporters after the board meeting.

Budget cuts made

The school board would help pay for the higher than planned raises by making cuts. This includes eliminating a program that paid employees extra money to watch students before and after-school due to bus delays.

The board adopted board member Wing Ng’s proposal to save $356,000 by not funding three new administrative positions in the human resources department.

The board also agreed to board member Sam Hershey’s proposal to restore funding for women’s flag football by eliminating a proposed $25 cut to the high school student parking fee.

The board rejected more costly pay options that would have raised the minimum salary to $18.25 an hour for support staff and given teachers a 4.5% increase in the local salary supplement.

“If it were fairer we would be paying closer to the national average for all of these positions — but we do not,” said Heagarty, the school board chair. “We simply don’t get enough money from the state government.”

Putting pressure on school board

Spears said the board’s decision is a win for school employees even though it’s not as high a raise as some wanted.

Wake NCAE organized the Tuesday “walk-ins” to send the message that the school board needs to ask for the pay raises it had previously promised as part of a multi-year plan.

“We are here because we are reminding the school board with our clever signs, our unifying red and our adorable smiles that we mean business!” said Mary Todd Earnhardt, a first-grade teacher and one of the Wake NCAE building representatives at Abbotts Creek Elementary School in Raleigh.

Participants held up signs with slogans such as “My second job paid for this sign,” “Fair Pay - Teachers Stay” and “Teachers don’t accept incomplete work!”

“We are committed to ensuring that we have the best working conditions, including the conditions of our bank accounts.,” Earnhardt told the crowd of around 50 people. “Can I get an amen? As we make the turn from one month into the next, we feel the struggle.

“We are preparing for two unpaid summer months. We feel the struggle and we need to make sure the school board also knows we feel the struggle.”

Walk-in protests praised

The rallies come after a recent state report shows teacher turnover has risen 47% in North Carolina’s public schools.

“With an increasing number of teachers leaving the field due to low pay and inadequate support, the strain on veteran teachers who remain is visible,” said Sue Reynolds, a music teacher with a second job who is one of Abbott Creek Elementary’s Wake NCAE representatives. “Despite our passion for teaching, the need to make ends meet pushes us to seek additional sources of income.”

School board member Lynn Edmonds said the walk-ins do a valuable job of educating the public about what resources are needed for schools.

“Teachers need to ask for what they need and they need to be very focal for the public so the public understands their challenges and the public understands what they need ,,,” Edmonds told reporters. “I’m thrilled to see those walk-ins.”