Â鶹´«Ã½¹ÙÍø teachers and staff approached their school board Tuesday night to question the status of their state-provided bonus pay.
The educators asked when, or if, they would receive their $1,000 bonuses from the Virginia Department of Education.
The state gave $1.45 million to the school system, enough to fund $1,000 retention bonuses for each staff member as required by minimum staffing standards, said Chief Financial Officer Kathleen Jackson.
Herein arises an issue for Â鶹´«Ã½¹ÙÍø City Schools, because the division employs “far more†staff members than are required by state law, she said. For example, the schools employ 27 kindergarten aides, but the state only partly funds 11 of those.
“When we do have these opportunities for bonuses, we want to look at all of our employees,†Jackson said. “With the exception of executive directors and above.â€
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As such, the schools could provide a bonus in the amount of $555 for all its full-time staff, and half that amount for all the part-time workers.
It would cost the schools an additional $1.7 million out of pocket to bring the bonuses up to a full $1,000, but that is just not feasible given the tight budget the system is facing, school board members said. School Board Member Joyce Watkins asked if there is a little more the division can give to its hard-working teachers.
“I don’t think we can get to the $1,000 for each employee,†Watkins said. “What can we spare to bring it up just a little bit?â€
Jackson said she is not sure yet how much, if any, surplus the schools will have, because the books won’t be finalized until sometime in the fall. The schools’ and city government’s financial year begins anew July 1, but the auditing process continues into October, she said.
School Board member Deidre Trigg said she doesn’t think teachers can or should wait that long for the bonus pay they rightly deserve.
“We’re having a hard time in every area,†Trigg said. “We don’t need to have a hard time with our educators.â€
The school board is changing its regular workshop June 24 to a special meeting, so it can take further action on the retention bonuses. The marching orders for Jackson are to see about giving a bonus in two installments, first the $555 by June 30, and then any further funds available once year-end accounting is finished in the fall.
School board chair Eli Jamison said she did not want to cause any “unforeseen, weird,†tax implications by giving out bonuses in two tranches.
“I’m always excited about a bonus until I see the taxes,†Jamison said. “We don’t want to find ourselves doing a negative thing when we’re trying to do a good thing.â€
School board member Liz Quintana said staff and students are the board’s top priority. Vice Chair Franny Apel said she favors using every dollar budgeted this year to balance the bonuses out as much as possible.
“It is important that we are not leaving anyone out,†Trigg said. “We will get what we can get to you, as soon as we can get to you.â€
Most years this would not be such a difficult conversation, Jamison said. But school officials say they are feeling a budget squeeze at the local, state and federal levels.
“This is as tight a budget year as we’ve had in a while,†Jamison said. “A million dollars is a lot of money, but in a budget of our size, that’s pretty tight.â€
For example, the system had to adopt new textbooks this year worth a total of $3 million, an unexpected expense required by state law, officials said Tuesday night.
Also during the school board meeting Tuesday, the board approved its budget for the new financial year that begins July 1. It’s a $317 million overall budget, with cuts made to the elementary school Spanish program, among other concessions to keep the system solvent.
“Running in the red is not an option for Â鶹´«Ã½¹ÙÍø City Public Schools,†said Superintendent Verletta White. “We are the largest school division in southwest Virginia, and we have greater complexities.â€
Watkins said it was the hardest budget process of her six-year tenure on the school board. Even tougher than the coronavirus years.
“We had to make real hard decisions this time,†Watkins said. “I feel that moving forward, the decisions will be just as hard, if not harder.â€
