A school board member pointed out at a recent meeting that more than 70% of school employees in Guilford County currently qualify for WIC and four out of five single employees are 200% below the federal poverty line. She also stated the county would have to fund services either in the form of a raise or services provided to employees.
The Board ultimately recommended, unanimously, to approve the request of what they call the “GCAE Model” in next year’s budget. The GCAE Model calls for policy makers to fix the flat pay scale of classified employees with a 6% increase between different grade levels and a 2.5% difference between steps, a $77.6 million increase in funding for salaries.
“Simply put, our school board has voted to address the impact of the wage crisis on the lives of our lowest-paid workers across our school district,” said GCAE President Kenya Donaldson. “This vote demonstrates an initial commitment to adequately staffing our schools with the most qualified workers. This ultimately increases the quality of education offered to all students in Guilford County Schools.”
GCAE has led the state in the campaign for a livable wage of $15 per hour for classified workers long before the General Assembly adopted the plan statewide. However, when this happened, the school system did not adjust the top of the salary schedule for more experienced workers. Classified workers unfortunately have experienced inadequate wages for the past 20 years. Moving pay steps has only kept workers at the same wages for decades, leading to high worker turnover and hard-to-fill vacancies. As of March 1, there were classified vacancies countywide.
So, what are the next steps? On June 1, GCAE will hold a “Fix the Wage Crises Rally” to ask the county commission to fund the GCAE Model. “We need our county commissioners to fully fund the budget that has been passed by the School Board and increase salaries to retain and attract classified staff who will keep our schools running and thriving,” Donaldson added.
