Salaries are rising for Wake school employees. Here’s how much they’re increasing
The Wake County school board approved a pay plan on Tuesday that raises salaries for the district’s lowest-paid workers to $17 an hour and provides a slightly bigger than budgeted locally funded pay raise for teachers
Wake will now pay its classified school staff — which includes workers such as teacher assistants, cafeteria workers, custodians and secretaries — at least $17 an hour or give them a 4% raise, whichever is greater.
At the recommendation of district administrators, the board also modified the budget on Tuesday to provide an additional $1.7 million for locally funded pay raises for teachers and assistant principals.
School leaders said they hope to do more in the future, including continuing to raise the salaries for support staff and veteran teachers.
“I hope I’m here standing before you a year from now with at least an $18 an hour minimum hourly rate for our classified staff,” David Neter, Wake’s chief business officer, told the school board. “There’s much more work we have to do.”
As part of the vote, administrators were asked to study moving hourly employees to a bi-weekly pay schedule. Employees have complained about how difficult budgeting is when they’re only paid once a month.
Retroactive pay raises
The new salary schedules had been on hold until the state budget was approved last month. The state provides the majority of Wake’s $2.1 billion annual operating budget.
The raises are retroactive to the start of the school year.
The new pay rates will be included in the November paycheck. Neter said the back pay will be included by the December paycheck at the latest.
“If we can hit in the November payroll we will,” Neter said of the back pay. “But accuracy is paramount as well.”
Support staff raises
In recent years, Wake’s support staff have seen some of the biggest percentage pay increases in an effort to provide them closer to a living wage.
In 2021, the district raised the salaries for hourly workers to a minimum of $15 an hour. That raise provided employees raises ranging from 5.3% to 43%. Some workers had been paid as little as $11.80 an hour.
Last year, the minimum salary was raised to $16 an hour.
This year’s school budget called for a minimum wage of $17 an hour. Groups such as the Wake County chapter of the N.C. Association of Educators had argued it should go to $18.20 an hour.
The school board had planned to use local funds to provide the $17 an hour wage until state lawmakers provided a higher-than-expected 4% raise this year for support staff.
The district’s plan was also helped by the Wake County Board of Commissioners providing a $50 million funding increase this year.
Raises for bus drivers
Bus drivers could see among the largest raises this year among non-certified staff. State lawmakers set aside additional money for bus drivers due to the ongoing statewide and national shortage of bus drivers.
Wake has a driver vacancy rate of more than 35%, which is disrupting bus service.
Some Wake bus drivers could see raises of more than 9% this school year.
The starting salary for a Wake school bus driver will rise to a minimum of $18.55 an hour. Including bonuses, a new Wake bus driver would be eligible for $38,600 in compensation.
“Whether that will meets our needs from a market perspective, we have yet to see,” Neter told the board. “But we have come a long way.”
Pay raises for teachers
State lawmakers also provided an average raise of 7% over the next two years for teachers. But the pay raise varies this year from 2% to 7.7%. The biggest increases are going toward beginning teachers.
Experienced teachers have complained how their state raises won’t keep up with the cost of inflation.
While the state provides the majority of pay for teachers, school districts often supplement the pay. Wake County has one of the highest local supplements in the state, paying about 20% of the salary for teachers.
The school board’s original budget included a 4.5% increase this school year in the local salary supplement for teachers and assistant principals. But by adding $1.7 million, it will rise to a 5.5% increase in the local salary supplement.
The board will dip into the district’s fund balance to help pay for the extra teacher raises.
A first-year teacher with only a bachelor’s degree would start with a salary of $46,057. A teacher with more than 31 years of experience who also has both a master’s degree and national board certification would get $84,467.
Board members asked Neter to look into ways to raise pay for veteran educators.
“Staff will bring information back to the board as we go forward with a new (budget) cycle to determine what funding would be required to mitigate the impact of the state’s current salary structure for teaching staff, especially focused on our veteran teachers,” Neter said.
Increase in pay for substitute teachers
Since July, more than 1,000 additional teachers, instructional support staff and social workers have begun getting paid 10% more for having a master’s degree. Wake extended the benefit to district employees who missed North Carolina’s 2013 cutoff to get a master’s degree, doctorate or other higher degree to receive extra state pay.
Other pay increases this year include:
▪ A 5.5% state and locally funded salary increase for administrators, technology positions, members of the superintendent’s leadership team and principals.
▪ Occupational/physical therapists will now be be paid on the same scale as speech language pathologists.
▪ Substitute teachers who have a teaching license will be paid $5 more to $135 a day.
▪ Substitute teachers who don’t have a teaching license will be paid $5 more to $120 per day.
▪ Instructional assistants/teacher assistants who serve as substitute teachers will get $1 more to $35 per day. This comes on top of their regular pay.
This story was originally published October 17, 2023 at 8:05 PM with the headline "Salaries are rising for Wake school employees. Here’s how much they’re increasing."
