Fulton County school officials weigh pay hike

By DELANEY TARR delaney@appenmedia.com

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — The Fulton County School Board is considering a budget plan that could give school employees a 7.1 percent salary increase for the 2023-2024 school year to push competitive educator salaries in Metro Atlanta. The board discussed the recommended budget at an April 13 work session at the Fulton North Learning Center in Sandy Springs.

Approximately 84 percent of the general fund budget expenditures are salary and benefits, rounding out at a proposed $1.11 billion price tag for 2024. The cost comes from a host of recommended salary increases from school district officials.

“This budget will include competitive wages,” Fulton County Schools Chief Financial Officer Marvin Dereef said. “We are in a very competitive market right now, labor is tight as mentioned earlier, so this budget addresses that.”

Dereef presented a plan that would increase all employee salary schedules by 5.1 percent. The raise includes a $2,000 pay raise proposed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp. The raise would cost the school district $42.5 million.

The school district staff also presented a one-time two percent pay bump to increase employee retention. The retention pay bump only applies to Fulton County Schools staff who were employed in the 2022-2023 school year. It would be paid in September 2023.

It would cost the school district $14.8 million.

Combined, employees could see a 7.1 percent raise for the next school year, with 5.1 percent lasting into future school years. New teacher salaries would increase from $53,362 to $56,488.

“When I started teaching my salary was $35,000 and I thought I was making a lot of money,” Fulton County School Board District 4 member Franchesca Warren said. “That’s a lot of money for a new graduate or just for a new teacher.”

The school board also looked at hiring and retention incentives for hard to staff schools. The recommended budget would add five schools to the “hard to staff schools” list, totaling 10 schools with the designation.

New teachers could receive a onetime $5,000 hiring incentive, as well as a $250 one-time referral incentive for any staff that refers a teacher to one of the hard to staff schools. Together, the two incentives would cost $490,000.

Warren also asked “what the plan is” for hard to staff schools beyond the pay increases.

Chief Human Resources officer Dr. Gonzalo La Cava said the district is looking at a three-tiered professional development program to provide continued support to teachers.

“When you ask a teacher ‘what is the number one thing you want?’ a lot of the times they don’t tell you money, but they do want support,” La Cava said. “They want a leader that’s engaged with them and is providing a great culture.”

La Cava said the district is also looking at long-term plans to make sure teachers aren’t “forgotten” and can receive constant coaching, and that he knows teachers are excited about the salaries and bonuses they could receive.

If all the salary increases, bonus and incentive plans are approved it would cost the school district $57.8 million.

“I’m pleased to announce this budget recommendation really checks off just about every box as far as the parameters,” Dereef said.

The parameters included identifying opportunities for cost efficiencies, maintaining a competitive compensation structure, to be revenue neutral and continuing with a modified zero-based budgeting process.

The school board also looked at increasing school maintenance funds. The district has projected a 4.5 percent increase in the tax digest, but some board members expect the number will be much higher and could create additional money to spend.

The Chief Communications Officer for Fulton County Schools, Brian Noyes said that may be true, but the school district likely will not know the official tax estimate until after the budget is approved and is operating off a conservative estimate now.

Fulton County Schools Superintendent Dr. Mike Looney said he has discussed maintenance individually and will “be working with staff to present a proposal that adds additional money towards school maintenance.”