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Burke County board approves 7% COLA for all staff for 2025-26 school year
Summary
At its April 4 meeting the Burke County Board of Education voted to grant a 7% cost-of-living adjustment for all staff in the 2025-26 school year after hearing financial context from system staff and brief discussion among board members.
At its April 4 meeting the Burke County Board of Education voted to approve a 7% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for all school system employees for the 2025-26 school year, the board announced by show of hands after a motion and second.
The board heard a financial presentation from Mrs. Marchman, who told trustees the district has collected $69,561,576 in revenues through March 2025 and held $239,973,487.35 in investments as of March 31, 2025. Mrs. Marchman said the district’s end-of-period general fund equity was $250,622,067 and that interest earnings since July 1, 2022, total $23,274,811.82, with $7,816,282.53 earned in the current fiscal year. She also presented the cost of automatic step increases (longevity steps) at $435,976 and explained the COLA tables showing options from 2% to 7%.
"I would never present a COLA to you that we could not afford," Mrs. Marchman said during her presentation, adding that federal program salaries (Title I and school nutrition) were excluded from the local-salary COLA analysis because they are reimbursed separately.
Board discussion was brief but split on the rate. Dr. Miles said she preferred a higher increase to help employees keep pace with rising living costs: "I'd like to see as high as we can ... I'd like to see how employees receive the benefits," she said. Other trustees urged caution, citing inflation measures and the long-term budget impact of adding recurring pay increases.
A trustee moved the 7% COLA motion and a second was made; the board voted by show of hands and the motion carried. The transcript does not record a roll-call tally or the names of the mover and seconder.
Board members were told a tentative budget incorporating the COLA will be prepared for approval in May and that whatever rate the board adopts now will be built into the next year’s salary base.
Clarifying details recorded at the meeting emphasized that the automatic step (one-year experience on the pay scale) does not require board approval and was shown separately from percentage COLA scenarios; the presented COLA figures exclude federally funded positions and school nutrition staff. Mrs. Marchman also reminded trustees that the district’s current fund balance and recent interest income provide capacity to support an increase, while several board members noted that a recurring percentage increase compounds into future budgets.
Votes at a glance
- Motion to set a 7% COLA for all Burke County school staff for the 2025-26 school year: Passed by show of hands; tally not specified in the transcript. The motion applied to local salary lines and did not change federal Title I or school nutrition salary reimbursements.
