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MONROE, N.C. — Union County Public Schools are expected to discuss a local supplement increase for teachers at a meeting next week.
The local supplement is an amount the county provides in addition to the state salary to make teacher pay more competitive.
The upcoming meeting comes after the Union Board of County Commissioners released a letter calling on the school board to release these funds for teachers.
The school system requested the more than $14.6 million over the current budget, which would provide a higher teacher supplement raise.
Ultimately, board of commissioners approved $8.8 million extra in funding for UCPS.
“We understood that UCPS could not give a $2,000 supplement with the proposed funding amount. Based on numerous discussions and sufficient funding provided, we anticipated that teachers would receive a $1,000 supplement increase,” the letter states.
Board of commissioners Chair Melissa Merrell said in early October, she learned the supplement increase had not been provided and said the county was unfairly blamed for it.
“We funded it, we approved it. We sent them the money into law and until this, we did not know. We had not been informed that the schools and the superintendent and the Board of Education, they made a decision to hold on to it,” Merrell said.
According to UCPS, the delay for the local supplement increase came from uncertainty with the state budget.
UCPS Board of Education Chairman the Rev. Jimmy H. Bention Sr. said the school board never said the commissioners didn’t fund them.
“They did fund us, but the funding level that they funded us at, we were not able to then provide that $2,000, so we’re waiting for our state funds to come in and at that point, our finance team would be able to determine what amount of a supplement they can receive,” Bention said. “The issue is that people locked in on amounts, whether $2,000 or $1,000, when in fact, we have to look at the total budget package and see what we can give.”
Merrell said she’s excited there will be discussions next week regarding the local supplement increase for teachers, but she questions the motives behind it.
“I expect them to issue a $1,000 settlement increase to all classroom teachers immediately, and they need to clarify that they were the ones holding the money,” Merrell said.
Regarding the letter, Bention said he would’ve preferred a phone call to clarify the situation instead of the letter.
“I want people know that this is not an issue, but between board, the board, it was a miscommunication that blew up,” Bention said.
Both agree giving teachers more incentives to remain in the classroom is a must.
“It’s also very important to me that to continue increasing the teacher supplement so that if you teach in Union County Public Schools, that the county supplement is not falling behind,” Merrell said.
Bention said the Board of Education Finance Committee will issue a recommendation for the supplement increase amount, and the full board will vote on it in November.
“I just want to say to our teachers out there, that team UCPS, as we have always been, stands 100% behind you because you are an essential part of what makes team UCPS us,” Bention said.
The Board of Education Finance Committee will meet Oct. 21 at 8 a.m.
The North Carolina General Assembly has not passed a state budget yet, which means the proposed raises for teachers have not taken effect.
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Estephany Escobar
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