Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget Compensation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lynchburg teachers union urges board to put pay at center of budget
Summary
Carl Luce, president of the Lynchburg Education Association, told the school board the upcoming budget should prioritize staff compensation, citing years-long pay freezes and pay gaps with neighboring districts. Finance staff said the division will seek revenue for compensation decisions but concrete amounts await board direction.
Carl Luce, president of the Lynchburg Education Association, urged the Lynchburg City Schools Board on Dec. 16 to make staff compensation a top priority as the district prepares its budget. "If you want to prove you care about your staff, then the budget needs to reflect that," Luce said, describing an 11-year pay freeze that left the district behind neighboring counties and recounting a teacher who took a $10,000 pay cut returning to LCS.
Luce told the board that starting teacher pay in Lynchburg is now comparable to nearby Campbell County but that longer-term steps on Campbell’s scale exceed Lynchburg’s, and warned that without competitive pay the district will continue to lose teachers to surrounding localities. He appealed to the board to present a budget request to city council that demonstrates a clear commitment to staffing and retention.
In response, Ms. James, the division chief financial officer, walked the board through November financials and said the district will "request revenues for whatever decisions are made at the compensation/salary level." James noted a recent large month of health-insurance claims that pushed the benefits fund toward a year-to-date deficit and said the board previously approved a roughly 5% employee premium increase to help offset those costs. She emphasized she could not provide specific salary-increase numbers until the board and superintendent set compensation priorities.
Board members framed the pay discussion in a wider context of the strategic planning process, transportation costs and district priorities. Several members urged community engagement in the strategic-plan process and asked staff to return with options and cost estimates before finalizing compensation proposals. The superintendent said she would seek revenues consistent with board decisions on compensation.
The board did not take a formal salary vote at the meeting; members and the superintendent said compensation options will be part of future budget deliberations and the division will return with specific fiscal implications when the board provides direction.
