Teacher raises, job cuts on table for Bedford County School Board

Christa Desrets / Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: January 11, 2008

A raise in teacher pay, an addition of three testing coordinators and a decrease in as many as 24 elementary and middle school teaching and administrative positions were among the proposals suggested Friday by members of the Bedford County School Board in their first budget work session for 2008-09.

All discussions were preliminary at the meeting, where board members spoke in general about many areas of the budget. They plan to discuss individual topics in depth at later meetings.

The board is projecting a decrease in 125 students but an increase of $2.7 million in funds over last year's $99.5 million budget, according to preliminary figures.

Superintendent James Blevins said that was based on conservative estimates that will not be finalized until state and local budgets are approved.

School board members suggested a couple of options for teacher salaries, which was one topic that parents commented heavily on at Thursday night's public hearing on the budget.

They said, and school board members agreed Friday, that teacher pay rates in Bedford County fall toward the bottom of teacher pay rates in the area.

The preliminary recommendation for teacher salaries would be a 3-percent raise, which would cost about $2.7 million. The cost for an alternative 5-percent raise would be roughly $4.1 million.

School Board Chairman Gary Hostutler suggested the board look into the cost of giving a one-time raise that would put the district at an average salary level compared to neighboring districts.

"I hope we can do a lot better than 3 percent," he said.

Preliminary estimates for the cost of recommended additions to the budget, including three testing coordinators for the high schools, range from roughly $500,000 to $1.5 million. That may change since school board members asked to consider adding several items to the budget as well as removing others.

Proposed reductions in the budget include the removal of six to nine teaching positions at elementary schools, six to nine positions at middle schools, two elementary assistant principal positions and four special education aide positions, said Tammy Parlier, director of instruction.

The proposal outlines the most probable teaching reductions to be at Bedford, Big Island, Forest, Moneta, Montvale and Stewartsville elementary schools and Bedford and Staunton River middle schools, she said.

Those changes would only be made if the result would maintain class sizes under the recommended number of students, she said, adding that changes in projected enrollment numbers could affect the end result.

Several board members said they wanted to be especially careful about reducing positions at elementary schools.

"It's like building a house," Joy Wright said. "If you don't have a good foundation, you're going to fall."

Reductions in assistant principal positions would be at Bedford and Stewartsville elementary schools, Parlier said, but the reduction would be seniority-based, so the assistant principals currently at those schools may not be the ones affected by the proposed change.

"We're going to try really hard to make sure that a person doesn't feel like they have been displaced," Assistant Superintendent Bobbi Johnson said.

Additionally proposed are reductions of special education aide positions at Bedford Elementary School, Bedford Primary School and possibly two other elementary schools.

The proposed reductions would save the district between $775,000 and $1 million, depending on the number of removed positions.

The board plans to approve and submit its budget for approval by the Bedford County Board of Supervisors at the end of February.

The board's next budget work session is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 18, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the school board administration building, located at 310 South Bridge St., in Bedford.