Asheville City Schools board approves pay-schedule changes and calendar while grappling with state budget uncertainty

The Asheville City Schools board approved a package of salary-schedule adjustments, an elementary-school calendar and the personnel report after extended discussion about how the newly released state budget language and bonuses could affect the district’s local finances.

What the board approved: The board voted to approve (1) a revised local supplement structure that changes step increments and slightly raises supplement levels, (2) a 2 percentage-point additional local supplement for exceptional-children (EC) teachers and related services staff, (3) hourly-pay-table adjustments guaranteeing a minimum increase for hourly staff, (4) a principal salary schedule to be treated as a living/interim document, and (5) a central-office (CO) salary schedule meant to increase pay transparency. The consent agenda and the personnel report also passed during the meeting.

Why it matters: Board members and staff emphasized the local budget trade-offs required to implement the changes. One board member cited an estimated $4.7 million draw from fund balance to support the package; staff warned that newly described state bonuses could add roughly a half-million-dollar local cost, potentially increasing the fund-balance draw to about $5.2 million depending on allotments.

Voices at the meeting: Carson Bridges, president of the Asheville City Association of Educators, praised increases for EC staff but criticized the district’s budget process and said meet-and-confer (MCC) discussions with staff had not produced the level of transparency or collaboration promised: “This year’s budget process is the exact opposite of what we hope to achieve through the creation of meet confer collaborate,” he said. Families’ representative Christina Shimrock said the central problem connecting conversations about the budget, feasibility study and program changes is broken trust, and urged the board to slow decisions and bring families into the process earlier.

Staff presentation and fiscal context: Heidi (presentation staff) summarized the proposals, including changes to supplement steps and an hourly-pay proposal that would raise the lowest-paid hourly employees by at least a dollar per hour and address wage compression. Board members debated alternatives (e.g., modest additional cents-per-hour increases) and discussed timing: several measures were described as implementable now but subject to revision as salary schedules are living documents.

Votes at a glance: The board approved the consent agenda (consent items listed earlier), approved the elementary-school calendar (traditional calendar with added early-release Thursdays), adopted the local-supplement changes and EC supplement increase, approved hourly-pay-table adjustments, approved the principal and CO salary schedules (principal schedule approved with the understanding it may be revisited), and approved the personnel report (one attempt to sever a single non-renewal item failed; the personnel report passed with two members recorded as opposed). Several of the salary motions passed unanimously after discussion.

Next steps and outstanding questions: Board members asked staff to continue working with the MCC group and to bring additional budget clarifications in July or before the final budget vote. Speakers during public comment asked the district to publish survey results and provide clearer timelines and criteria for program and staffing recommendations. The board indicated it will continue work through the summer and reconvene on action items as the state budget and allotments are finalized.

The meeting ended with the board scheduling further work sessions and a July meeting at which unresolved items, including the orchestra discussion and budget clarifications, will be considered.