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Warren County schools propose three-year plan to boost pay, compress scales and add IA tiers
Summary
School staff proposed a phased, three-year compensation plan that would compress multiple salary scales, fold coordinator supplements into base pay, create two IA levels (about 50 employees in level two), and raise bus driver hours to five to better reflect routes.
Warren County School Board staff presented a multi-year plan Wednesday to make the division's pay scales more competitive, asking the board to approve a phased approach rather than a single-year large increase.
The plan, presented by Kendall, would start with a 4% across-the-board increase plus step adjustments for covered positions in year one and move through a three-year sequence intended to yield roughly a 10–11% cumulative increase for many employees. "We are averaging about 3.5% below [neighboring divisions], which is why we'll talk about how to adjust specific salary scales," Kendall said in the work session packet review.
Why it matters: staff told the board the proposal is designed to improve recruitment and retention and to make the division more competitive with nearby systems and local health-care employers.
What staff proposed: the agenda materials and presentation outlined several coordinated changes:
- Instructional assistants: create two tiers. Level one covers general-education assistants and aligns with the new $15 minimum; level two (an estimated 50 positions in PACE, pre-K and learning centers) would earn roughly $2 per hour more and must complete advanced certification. Kendall said the district will offer reimbursement and supports for certification.
- Nurses: compress the registered-nurse scale (from a 0–30 to a 0–16 step scale), add licensed practical nurses to the scale to match neighboring districts, and fold a $7,500 nurse-coordinator supplement into base pay so the compensation counts toward VRS retirement calculations.
- Bus drivers: change the daily pay calculation from 4.5 to 5 hours to reflect staggered starts and longer routes; staff described the arithmetic used to convert the contract and hourly rates into the new base salary.
- Coaches and administrators: a two-phase change to coaching supplements (head coaches first, assistants in year two) and development of an administrator (dean) scale to prevent pay losses when staff move into administrative roles.
Board discussion and next steps: members expressed support for a planned, stepped approach as a more realistic message to supervisors and taxpayers than asking for full compression in a single year. Dr. Martin urged board members to press for any missing data before the division meets the board of supervisors. Staff said the board would see more precise cost estimates in the Friday memo and again at the November work session.
Implementation constraints: staff emphasized many positions are funded by a mix of local and categorical state funds; some roles now funded by Title I may need local funding because the Virginia Department of Education has cut Title I allocations for the division this year. Staff said they are still developing how to plug any resulting gaps and will present options next month.
The board did not take a final vote on pay changes at the work session; staff will refine cost scenarios and return with a condensed, one-page set of options for board deliberation.
