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Parent urges Bedford supervisors to boost teacher and paraprofessional pay to stop turnover
Summary
At the board’s citizen comment period, Avan Alford, a Bedford County parent with a child in special education, urged supervisors to increase teacher starting salaries and paraprofessional wages to retain staff, comparing Bedford’s pay and funding levels with neighboring counties and citing low retention rates among paraprofessionals.
Avan Alford, a Bedford County resident and parent of a child in special education, used the citizen comment period to urge the Board of Supervisors to make competitive teacher and paraprofessional pay a budget priority.
Alford said Bedford’s average starting teacher salary is “around 44,000,” and contrasted that with neighboring localities he cited as higher — Roanoke “closer to 50,” Botetourt and Rockbridge “around 48 to 49,” and Campbell County offering a more competitive scale. He said those differences, “a few thousand dollars,” affect whether schools can attract licensed, experienced teachers or must rely on long‑term substitutes.
On paraprofessional pay and retention, Alford said those workers ‘‘feed, lift, and care for our most vulnerable students every single day’’ and that since 2022 retentions for paraprofessionals in Bedford County public schools have been as low as 60 percent and at best 73 percent, while the county’s stated goal is 90 percent.
Alford also framed the county’s budgetary commitment to schools in comparative terms: he said other counties dedicate 30 to 35 percent of their budgets to schools while Bedford is “closer to the mid‑twenties.” He recited figures presented as local effort comparisons: Bedford funds operations “about 55% above the state required floor,” Campbell County “73.75 above required local effort,” Botetourt “103.35% above RLE,” Roanoke “127.59% above,” and Rockbridge “130.32% above required local effort.”
‘‘Please make competitive teacher pay and fair pay for paraprofessionals a top priority in the next budget cycle,’’ Alford said, adding that the county should view education ‘‘not as an expense, but as an investment in Bedford County’s future.’’ The remarks were delivered during public comment; no board action or funding decision followed during the meeting record.
