Bus drivers, teacher assistants in Cumberland County Schools likely to get raises in July
Two major groups of workers in Cumberland County Schools are likely to see 15% pay increases in July because of a new state directive to increase the minimum wage of school employees, but the increase and other salary issues could require more than $18 million in additional funding, a consultant said.
Ricky Lopes, who retired in 2015 as associate superintendent for business operations in Cumberland County Schools and is now a partner in HIL Consultants, talked to the Board of Education’s budget and finance committee on Thursday. Lopes said teacher assistants and bus drivers will likely see the pay increases because of the new minimum wage.
Lopes said the new wages also create financial issues for the school system. He said the increase will cause “wage compression,” which happens when a veteran employee’s salary ends up being similar to that of a new employee.
Lopes gave an example of an employee who was hired in 2008 when the school system’s minimum wage was $13 an hour. Based on state salary increases, the employee would now be making $14.53 an hour, he said. When the $15 minimum wage starts in July, that employee would be making the same as a newly hired employee, Lopes said.
Related:Cumberland County School employees earn an average annual income of $41,000
Salary database: See how much Cumberland County Schools employees make
Lopes’ firm recommended in a salary survey report that the school system put in place a 30-step pay scale for employees who are paid according to salaries instead of by the hour. The new scale will cost about $10.89 million, including benefit increases.
About $5.95 million of the increase would come from state funds, Lopes said. About $3.94 million would come from local funds, with the rest from federal money and other sources, he said.
The pay scale would address the minimum wage increase and wage compression issues. The school system could put in place raises to only address the minimum wage increase, but likely would still have to come up with more than $1 million in additional local funds.
The increases for workers paid by the hour, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers, will cost about $3.48 million to deal with the raise and compression issues, according to the report. The cost of the raises is more than $1 million, it said.
Including increases to supplements for teachers and principals, the total cost for salary increases could be $18.79 million, the report said.
Ruben Reyes, associate superintendent for human resources, said the board requested the salary study in November 2021.
“This is the culmination of several months of work,” he said.
Higher salaries are needed because the state put in place a $15 minimum wage for school employees, Lopes said. Other school systems are facing similar issues, he said.
“It’s a school system issue that has kind of been thrown in your lap,” he said.
The salary study report says Cumberland County Schools faces significant competition for employees based on information from NC Works, a website that looks at the labor market. The demand for employees is high with just 1.92 candidates available per job opening, the report said.
NC Works is a partnership of the state Department of Commerce and the North Caroilina Association of Workforce Development Boards, according to the report.
Local news editor Steve DeVane can be reached at sdevane@fayobserver.com.
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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Cumberland County bus drivers, teacher assistants to get raises
