Fayette school board didn’t give teachers a proposed raise. They promise to next year.
Earlier this year, the Fayette County Public Schools board contemplated giving employees an immediate raise using an unexpected $3 million found in an audit.
Instead, school board members have promised to give the raise next school year. The board earmarked the $3 million in additional funds in this year’s budget for salaries in next year’s spending plan, and is expected to make specific decisions in May.
“We are hopeful that FCPS administration holds true to the promise made to our certified staff and will continue working hard to make sure our members are compensated accordingly, treated with respect and have their voices heard,” Nema Brewer, a leader in KY 120 United-AFT, an employee group, said Tuesday. “Money alone cannot fix the deteriorating working conditions in our schools, but it’s a start.”
A draft budget for the 2023-24 school year will come before the board in May, at which point the administration will recommend how best to accomplish the board’s goal of investing significantly in teacher compensation next school year, said district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall.
Among the items recommended will be a proposal presented by the Fayette County Education Association to pay teachers for extra duty, which would be up to two additional days for the time they give outside their typical work day, Deffendall said.
For the 2021-22 fiscal year, an audit report showed that “conservative projections and lower-than-expected spending resulted in a $3 million increase in the amount of carry-forward money in the district’s general fund,” said Superintendent Demetrus Liggins.
In February, instead of giving an immediate raise with the $3 million as some teachers and school board member Tom Jones had initially suggested, the school board adopted a resolution that district officials said solidified its intention to invest significantly in teacher compensation in the 2023-24 budget.
The resolution said the board appreciated the hard work of staff, “especially in the trying times of the last three years,” referring in part to school shutdowns from the COVID pandemic and the recovery efforts that followed.
The board decided to await the results of a comprehensive salary study that district officials said will guide decisions to make teacher salaries more competitive and will be a better reflection of current economic realities.
“As we thoughtfully begin developing a budget for next year, we resolve to combine that fiscal stewardship and discipline with strong investments in Fayette County Public Schools and make a meaningful increase in compensation for our staff,” the resolution said. “Investments in our staff are investments in our students.”
During a February meeting, Fayette County Board of Education Chair Tyler Murphy said the board’s unanimous approval of the resolution should assure district employees and the community that a significant increase in staff compensation is “front-of-mind.”
On March 16, board members again discussed pay raises for staff at their annual budget retreat. Board members were asked to prioritize requests for funding and Deputy Superintendent Houston Barber told the board at its March 27 meeting that employee compensation emerged as a top priority from that exercise.
Where the $3 million came from
The additional $3 million in carry-forward funds reported to the board in December wasn’t an oversight on the district’s part, but the result of sound budgeting practices, according to Deffendall. The actual amount of revenue was slightly higher than anticipated, while the actual amount of expenditures was slightly lower.
Liggins, in an explanation to the community at the meeting, said the district’s budget is a general plan for revenue and expenses based on projections.
School boards are required to have three different versions of their budget every year. One in January is called the draft budget; May is the tentative budget; and in September, the working budget.
Monthly financial reports in the 2021-22 school year to the board showed that occupational license taxes were trending higher than anticipated in light of predictions of an economic slowdown.
The closeout of each fiscal year happens through an audit, an annual review required by state law in which an external firm reconciles the district’s revenue and expenses and determines the end-of-the-year picture of all the district’s accounts, said Liggins.
For the 2021-22 fiscal year, the audit report showed that lower-than-expected spending resulted in a $3 million increase in the amount of carry-forward money in the district’s general fund, Liggins said.
Teacher raises
Teachers in 2022 got a 3% raise after asking for a 5% raise. Deffendall noted they had gone the five previous years without any raises.
School board members commissioned two salary studies — one for hourly staff and one for salaried staff — to review employee compensation and recommend changes necessary to attract and retain talent.
Deffendall said the board implemented the study findings for hourly employees last year, investing an additional $26 million to bring all salaries above a threshold of $15.55 an hour and give every Fayette employee a pay raise of at least 3% in addition to step increases for experience and education.
The compensation study for salaried staff members is not complete, but each school board member has made individual statements saying they want to prioritize teacher pay raises in the 2023-24 budget, Deffendall said.
