School board chair presents Hampton City Schools FY2018 budget, highlights pay increases and health-insurance change

Jason Samuels, chair of the Hampton School Board, presented the board's approved fiscal year 2018 budget to the City Council work session, emphasizing compensation and targeted investments to support the division's strategic goals. "This proposed budget includes a minimum 2% salary increase for full and part time employees," Samuels said, and the presentation quantified the cost impacts of salary changes.

Samuels told council that each 1% increase in salary equates to $1,367,000 and that the board allocated $503,193 to address the teacher salary scale, including a $1,000 increase to the entry salary and step adjustments across the scale. He said the board also plans to eliminate higher steps over time to compress the scale, with a target to move the scale toward a top at step 30.

The presentation also disclosed a forthcoming change of health-insurance carrier: "Cigna will be our new health care provider effective 10/01/2017," Samuels said, and staff projected that change cuts the division's expected increase from about $1.4 million to approximately $861,264 in the fiscal-year materials. Deputy Superintendent Susan Scott answered follow-up questions on bus replacements and capital outlay, saying the division currently relies on year-end funds and does not have a dedicated replacement stream for aging buses.

Council members asked whether accreditation and Title I needs are sufficiently funded; Samuels said the share of fully accredited schools has risen to roughly 58% and that the division is finalizing strategies to continue improvement. Samuels and Scott also described reallocating $1,000,000 from the city's capital budget to support additional IT personnel needed to sustain a 1:1 device initiative.