UPDATED: School Board Considers Raises for Bus Drivers, Teacher Bonuses

Manassas Park City Schools administrators and school board officials talked of potential raises for bus drivers and teacher bonuses during a budget workshop held Monday evening.

 Many board members and administrators agreed that a raise in pay was needed to retain the division’s current bus drivers and attract new ones.

 Officials said a raise would keep starting salaries competitive with that of neighboring school districts, such as Prince William County and Manassas.

 While pay is competitive for those at the higher end of the pay scale, Manassas Park School bus drivers and aids are generally paid less than those who do the same job in neighboring school divisions, according to data.

 Manassas Park City Schools Director of Financial Services Krista Kelly said she considered various formulas for computing a raise in pay.

One of those options is a $1 on the hour increase for aids and a $1.25 increase for drivers whose salaries are at the lower end of the pay scale.

 Drivers with salaries at the higher end of the pay scale would see a slight change, as the raises are primarly for starting salaries.

 During Monday’s workshop, board member Rachel Kirkland and others asked if a $1 raise would be enough.

The board asked that a $2 raise be considered for starting salaries. If implemented, such a raise would cost the divison between $75,000 and $100,000, Kelly said.

Board members also inquired about implementing a sign-on bonus to attract bus drivers to Manassas Park City Schools.

 Manassas Park City Schools Deputy Superintendent Dr. Ritchie Carroll said that the division has in the past tried offering a sign-on bonus.  Officials found that many new workers take the bonus, work a year and move on to another job, she said.  

 The school board also considered raises for teachers, but many members and administrators said they didn’t want to give the teachers a raise one year and cut their pay the next.

 The school division is set to lose $1 million dollars in stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 next year, which impacts the budget, Kelly said.

Because of this, the revenue stream for fiscal year 2013 is uncertain, she said.

 It wouldn’t be good to give employees a raise and then take it away, Kelly said.

At the same time, school officials said they want to keep the pay competitive, as many teachers with less than 10 years experience could move on to better-paying school divisions fairly easily.

School board member Ron Gill said he wondered if Manassas Park teachers would really move to other divisions for better pay. With gas around $3.50 a gallon, any raise they would get could go to fuel their vehicles to drive farther away, making the move less feasible, he said.

 There are viable public transportation options and teachers may take advantage of them, Kelly said to Gill.

 Gill expressed concern about a raise for teachers, but was in favor of a bonus.

 If approved, the bonus would apply to all employees except bus drivers because there would be a change in their salary scale, Kelly said.

Senior administration, that is principals, directors and superintendents, will not be participating in any of the salary raises or bonuses, she said.

 The bonuses could be a percentage of each employee’s salary or, the bonuses could be administered as a flat rate.  

 If the school division goes with the flat rate option, then all employees would likely see a $300 to $500 bonus, Kelly said.

 If the bonus is calculated on percentage of salary, then the raise could be anywhere from one-half of a percent to one percent, she said.

  There hasn't been a contractual raise in pay since the 2007-2008 school year. Every year since then, there have been layoffs and someone had been affected by a contracual cut. This year everybody was affected by the cuts.

 The city shares 57 percent of its revenue with the school district. Currently about  $15,474,000 of the city’s projected revenue goes to the school district.

Of that $15 million, about $4.8 million is spent on the school division’s debt service.

The school board will meet again Monday.