WS/FCS Board of Education votes to increase pay for teacher assistants

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Board of Education voted to approve a compensation plan that would put $500,000 from the county toward increasing pay for teacher assistants. 

The district completed a market study looking at compensation for classified staff across other North Carolina districts.

The findings show it would take $2.4 million for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools to be at the average market rate of the entities in the study, which include Guilford, Wake and Durham public schools. 

But at a board of education meeting on Tuesday, officials said the Forsyth County Commissioners only had $500,000 to spare. Chief Financial Officer Tommy Kranz proposed using that funding to increase pay for one particular group. 

“One of our number one concerns right now is hiring teacher assistants, whether they're regular teacher assistants or ECs," Kranz said. "That's become a hard-to-staff position for our HR group.”

The district started the school year with 32 vacancies for exceptional children, or EC, teacher assistants. Kranz said the district could work on finding funds to increase pay for other staff, like bus drivers and custodians, down the line. 

The school board unanimously approved the plan, but resolved to be more explicit with the county about the $2.4 million the district would need to be at average market rate. 

“We're not asking to beat Raleigh. That is absurd. We're not asking to beat Charlotte. That would equally be as absurd," Board Member Leah Crowley said. "But to ask to be somewhere in the middle of five other districts and below Durham, of which we are larger than, I think is absolutely reasonable.”

The board also considered another plan Tuesday night which would give retention bonuses to staff at schools with the greatest needs. But board members voted to table it, because the funding for that would be taken out of other certified staff’s supplements. 

They did approve a portion of the plan, which would provide bonuses for social workers and counselors using a mental health grant from the state. 

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.