Teachers offered insurance bonus
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The offer also features the previously proposed $2,500 annual raise for teachers with a only a bachelor?s degree and a $2,000 raise for teachers with a master?s degree. Teachers with higher levels of education than a master?s degree would receive raises from around $650 to $875.
The fact all teachers weren?t offered the same pay raise prompted the WCEA to request all teachers receive a $2,500 raise. That idea wasn?t embraced by the school board which instead decided to offer to continue the $330 insurance bonus that was just added this school year.
To pay for the raises, the school board says it will have to ask the Warren County Commission for funding that?s equivalent to a 17-cent property tax increase.
?I can tell you a tax hike is not going to fly,? said Commissioner Michael Martin who was in attendance.
The school board has targeted teachers with only bachelor?s degrees for the largest raise because that?s where the school system ranks lowest compared to other districts.
The salary of first-year teachers in Warren County ranks 132nd out of Tennessee?s 136 school districts. However, the salary for all Warren County teachers ranks 83rd.
?Our proposal is to do exactly what you?re asking,? said school board member Debbie Watlington. ?It raises the first-year teachers up because we are losing out to other districts.?
WCEA representatives wanted to know why the school board couldn?t fund teacher pay raises without asking for a tax increase. They pointed out the school system had $3.9 million in its reserve fund at the beginning of this school year and suggested that money be used to pay for raises.
Director of Schools Dr. Jerry Hale says the reserve fund balance is currently much lower because of a variety of expenditures this school year. That includes: $1.1 million from the reserve fund to balance this year?s budget, $600,000 for the new Centertown School, $147,000 for the extended contract program, and $100,000 for driver?s education.
That currently leaves right at $2 million in fund balance.
Of that $2 million, the state requires school systems to maintain 3 percent of their annual operating expenses in the reserve fund, which in Warren County?s case is about $1.1 million. That leaves roughly $900,000 in available money, which Hale says he likes to have as a buffer in case Centertown school expenses are higher than projected, or if a roof is blown off a school.
Hale says extra money in the reserve fund has enabled the school system to complete a number of valuable renovations without asking the county commission for extra funding.
?Out of that reserve fund we?ve paid for renovations to Nunley Stadium and the middle school auditorium,? said Hale. ?It?s also paid for expansions at Morrison, Eastside, Irving College and Dibrell. That money has been put toward a number of school projects.?
After arguing about a variety of other funding issues, the WCEA agreed to take the contract offer into consideration until the next school board meeting scheduled for April 27.
How local teachers rank
How Warren County teachers rank compared to the 136 school districts in the state, according to the Tennessee Education Association:
? 80th ? Teachers with education specialist degree and 15 years experience
? 83rd ? All classroom teachers
? 92nd ? Teachers with a master?s degree and 15 years experience
? 115th ? Teachers with a bachelor?s degree and 15 years experience.
? 132nd ? First-year teachers with a bachelor?s degree