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School staff bonuses, phase-3 raises unsettled as board plans to ask county for supplemental funds
Summary
After the governor signed the state budget, Franklin County Schools staff outlined two options for one-time SOQ-funded bonuses and asked the board whether to request additional county funds to reach higher payouts.
Franklin County School staff told the school board Thursday that the governor's signed budget removed the support cap and included one-time bonuses tied to Standards of Quality (SOQ) funding but left non-SOQ positions out of the larger roll-forward for salary phase 3.
Division business staff said the state allocated $661,863 in SOQ-funded bonus money to the district. Staff presented two options for how to use that funding: divide the state allocation among all full- and part-time employees (which staff estimated would equal about $551 per full-time employee and about $275.50 for part time), or ask the county for an additional appropriation so the district could give a $1,000 bonus to full-time employees (and $500 to part-time), which would require roughly $660,163 in supplemental county funding.
Finance staff told the board the bonuses must be paid out in June, which sets a firm scheduling requirement for any request to the Board of Supervisors. "If we are going to ask the county, we would need to do that at their meeting next week," a division official said; staff said they would prepare a formal request immediately and Dr. Sears or another administrator would attend the supervisors' meeting to answer questions.
Board members expressed support for at least asking the county for the additional funds; one member said, "You can't get it if you don't ask." Staff also said they still plan to move forward with issuing contracts that reflect a guaranteed step increase and will revise contracts later if additional funds permit more of phase 3 raises to be included.
Staff said they will return in June with a revised final budget once state student-count data arrive and after the county responds to any funding request.
