Richland Two grants teacher pay increase in 2024-2025 general budget
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Richland School District Two teachers will soon see more money in their paychecks.
On Tuesday, the district’s board of trustees approved its budget for the upcoming school year.
The state legislature funded increases for all first-year teachers in South Carolina to 47 thousand dollars a year.
Richland Two is going even further by paying its first-year teachers 50 thousand dollars a year.
The Richland School District Two Board of Trustees provided a timeline and answers to Trinity Jennings, a North Springs Elementary school teacher assistant, concerning a pay increase for teachers across the district.
“The disparity of pay between teachers and teacher assistants and we are overlooked a lot like teachers are talking about raises,” said Jennings. “I personally have been taking a lot of time to come to these meetings, which is not convenient during the school year. I have to work three jobs just to barely make it, and I just don’t think I’m paid my worth.”
The salary for first-year teachers that was approved in the budget will go from $44,000 to $50,000.
The budget also includes $1.2 million in additional funding for social workers, psychologists, school counselors, nurses, and health room aids in targeted schools.
1.1 million dollars will go towards what the district calls academic interventionists for students who need academic assistance.
Sherri East, who serves as the South Carolina Education Association President sees that this move would help recruit more teachers to the district.
“We’re very excited to see that they put in some competitive salaries. I think they’re trying to look around and entice folks from other districts to come in. Now that you’re putting into teacher pay and support staff pay, that shows that you valuing our workers in Richland Two,” said East.
The district is also providing more money for step increases in teacher salaries and address disparities in the salaries for classified staff.
The district says the goal is to make Richland Two more competitive with surrounding districts. The district plans to share the new salary schedules beginning the week of July 8th.
The board sent WIS a statement on the newly accepted budget stating:
“Richland Two is very proud of our budget. Our Board, Superintendent, staff, and community gave input and worked really hard this year focusing on the people, special education support, and working conditions, while not sacrificing our beautiful facilities. It wasn’t easy without ESSER funds from our recent years, but we made it work. Our starting salary will begin at $50,000, a 12.8% increase, and we’ve also made adjustments to our salary step schedule. We focused on implementing recommendations from our compensation study to address salary disparities related to classified staff pay to be more competitive with our surrounding districts. We will continue to make improvements each year, but this year was a phenomenal start.”
Feel more informed, prepared, and connected with WIS. For more free content like this, subscribe to our email newsletter, and download our apps. Have feedback that can help us improve? Click here.
Copyright 2024 WIS. All rights reserved.
