Educators, parents press Chatham County Schools to restore arts stipends and honor local master''s pay

An extended public comment period at the Chatham County Board of Education's Nov. 3 meeting focused on cuts to arts stipends and questions about locally funded master''s pay.

Dr. Zach Wills, an arts educator who spoke during public comment, asked the board for "a transparent accounting of our financial situation and how we got from the beginning of summer to a reduction or elimination of our arts stipends for our arts educators." He said many colleagues "can't pay the rent without a second job" after the changes were announced.

Parents, music staff and arts boosters described how stipend reductions have affected school music and theater programs. Michelle Steck, a veterinarian and vice president of the Northwood Band Boosters, said music teachers volunteered summer time preparing for convocation and now face dramatic cuts to stipends that had been intended to cover hundreds of outside-the-day hours. "A child and their family shouldn't have to beg for money for basic needs to enable the child to participate in activities," Steck said.

Rachel Horowitz Andrews, an educator who said she completed a master''s degree to elevate opportunities for students, said the midyear changes left her earning "less money than I did when I left my previous career to come to teach in Chatham County Schools." Band director Noel A. Mel told the board the stipend reduction translated into "$2 an hour" for marching-band rehearsal time in his calculation, and that the cut undermined recruiting commitments made during hiring.

Several speakers pressed the board for restoration of the stipend amounts and for honoring locally funded master''s pay agreements. Justine Hilbert, a dual-licensed special education teacher and Band Booster president, said the loss of promised master''s pay was "not just a number on a check. It's my rent. It's groceries. It's keeping the lights on for my children."

Board staff described how the local, board-approved unified stipend program was implemented last spring and identified administrative errors that widened year-one costs. Assistant Superintendent Kelly Batten and other staff said the district had planned a flat-rate stipend model for academics and arts but an incorrect payout calculation used years-of-experience rather than the approved flat rate, producing an approximately $118,000 shortfall for the first year of the program. Batten said the district is not pursuing recoupment from staff and has revised the stipend structure for the current year to keep payments within available budget.

Superintendent Dr. Jackson told the board the overage was an administrative mistake and urged patience while staff stabilized the program. "Teachers were not at fault during the first year administration of the unified stipends," Batten said. Board discussion that followed placed the stipend changes in the district's broader fiscal context, including reduced local appropriations, charter-enrollment budget impacts and one-time uses of fund balance since COVID.

On master''s pay, staff said the local master's-pay program was funded at $250,000 for this school year and meant to cover locally paid supplements for eligible, licensed employees. Staff said several employees who had earned graduate degrees had not previously updated their state licensure records; once licenses were updated, additional employees became eligible and funding was exhausted. Dr. Batten said the district will use this year's data to refine projections and consider expansion for year two.

The board did not vote on changes to stipends or master's pay at the Nov. 3 meeting. Several speakers urged the board to restore previous stipend levels and to direct staff to consult arts educators and families before finalizing future changes.

Provenance (excerpted): first public comment and last related comment recorded between 00:51:17 and 01:20:58 in the transcript; examples include Dr. Zach Wills ("We would very much like a transparent accounting of our financial situation...") and Justine Hilbert ("When you decide to take that pay away, it wasn't just a number on a check. It's my rent.").

Ending: The board's staff said the unified stipend program has been recalibrated for year two to fit the local budget and that the master's-pay initiative remains under review; parents and teachers in the meeting urged the board to return to previous stipend levels or identify additional local funds if available.