Schools will look at salary steps

For the past several months, Orange County School Board members have been getting small glimpses at budget-related items, but it's still too soon to tell how Orange County schools will fare this time around.
Though no information about state or local funding has been shared as of yet, board members and school employees are already preparing for the upcoming budget sessions. Last month, employees showed up to a board meeting at Orange Elementary School wearing red in support of public education, with some speaking about the next budget's potential effects.
Orange County Education Association President Kyle Wormuth urged board members to take the steps necessary to make pay scales competitive with surrounding counties. He said some teachers have had to leave Orange County because of pay reasons.
"We should not be losing our great educators," he said. "It doesn't matter how good our programs are if we can't keep great people to implement them. Principals have told me that they have difficulty filling some positions because we are not competitive. Our children deserve better."
Fifth-grade teacher Tina Faulconer said she drives from Richmond everyday to work in Orange County.
"The children and staff members mean everything to me," she said. "I don't want to go somewhere else. I want to stay here."
Back again for the second consecutive year was also Molly Stewart, now a sixth-grade student at Prospect Heights Middle School. Last year, Stewart and her friend Kristen Lienhart began crocheting red bracelets in support of education, handing them out to teachers, staff members and board members. Stewart and Lienhart are continuing that work again this year. They gave board members a student perspective of the budget's effects.
"We're losing teachers at our school," Stewart said. "Our guidance teacher had to leave for a higher paying job. We really want for teachers to help more students. A lot of students need extra help."
Currently, a committee is working on a proposal that would put the Orange County teacher salary scale in line with that of Culpeper in order to make it more competitive. The proposal would reduce Orange's 37 steps down to 28 over a five-year period while also aligning teachers' actual years of experience more closely with their salary steps. But, that proposal comes with a price. To begin implementing it, the cost would be $925,928 next year. Director of Budget and Finance Matt Benefield said the cost would be more if it had been done all at one time, instead of over a five-year period. The board is expected to vote on the salary scale proposal this month.
Besides salary scales, the board will also look at the upcoming budget to replace buses, update technology and replace the division's outdated phone system. Budget work sessions are expected to begin Jan. 17 and will be scheduled as needed.