VEA rep says state summer bonus funds were not passed through to Mecklenburg County school staff

Alice Willingham, the Virginia Education Association representative for Mecklenburg County, told the Mecklenburg County School Board on the public-comment portion of its meeting that the district did not distribute state-allocated summer bonus funds to employees and urged the board to reverse that decision.

Willingham said the state budget allocated $422,968 to the district for one-time summer bonuses to be paid directly to school employees. "School staff received an email on June 17 indicating that only $287,000...was received from the state," she said, and asserted that, by her calculation, the state amount would equate to about $583.40 per employee if divided across 725 staff. "Since 422,968 was distributed to this district for state bonuses, that amount divided by 725 is $583.4 for each staff member," she said.

Willingham said the board approved a…