Agenda - 04-28-2015 - 1 and 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Board Priority: Advocating for our Employees Teacher and School Employee Wage and Salary Increases and Support for Human Resources and Teacher Recruitment: The Great Recession and state funding decisions for public education have negatively impacted our ability to recruit and retain staff. Employees have endured years of frozen salaries and reduced benefits while the cost of living continues to rise. Last year, the General Assembly authorized a sizeable wage increase for less experienced teachers, but provided very little to many of our teachers, administrators, and classified employees. Fortunately, the Board and County Commissioners supported a property tax increase that compensated for those who received little by the state, We still have a recruiting disadvantage as North Carolina average teacher salaries rank among the lowest in the country. Last year our teacher turnover was the highest it had been in nearly a decade. We need to do whatever we can to address this issue and retain and attract great staff. We have requested funding to match an average of a 2% wage increase and match the anticipated larger increase for less experienced teachers. Funding is also requested to address inequities with administrator and classified employee pay, along with a goal to ensure all employees receive a rate of pay equivalent to the county's living wage rate. Finally we are seeking financial support for our Human Resources department in recruiting efforts, employee relations matters, and general operational needs. Board Priority: Technology Support 4 Technicians for the Technology Department: We must continue to invest in and support digital learning and technology in our schools, as it is essential for our students to receive a 215` century education. Our technology investment needs technical support to ensure it is ready and working when students and teachers are engaged in instruction. Currently our district supports nearly 10,000 devices in 23 separate facilities with 10 technicians (a ratio of I technician for nearly 1,000 devices). This is well above best practice (DPI recommends I technician for every 400 devices). As a result, our technology facilitators (certified teachers whose primary role is to help infuse technology into the classroom and support digital learning initiatives) are troubleshooting technology issues and making technology repairs as opposed to the work they were hired to do. Our request is to provide 4 additional technology technicians and lower our ratio to I technician for every 700 devices. The great majority of our expansion request ($1.34 million of $1.61 million) focused on aforementioned identified priorities. We are also recommending some additional expansion requests ($268,258) that we feel are needed for the district to support district efficiencies, safety, and for services, materials, and equipment that have been underfunded. Detailed justifications for most of the expansion requests were included in budget documents presented during the Board's Planning Conference. 1 -5