TEACHER PAY SCALE REVAMPED; BUS DRIVERS GET PENSIONS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 1, 1993                   TAG: 9304010388
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
TEACHER PAY SCALE REVAMPED; BUS DRIVERS GET PENSIONS
School bus drivers and newly tenured teachers will benefit most from the $20 million budget unanimously passed Monday by the Salem School Board.
The budget, which asks for a $600,000 increase in local money, includes a minimum 3 percent salary increase for all school employees with raises as high as 5 percent going to teachers at the lower end of the pay scale. The budget also picks up retirement benefits for school bus drivers by reclassifying them as "full-time" employees.
Bus drivers work 25 hours per week, said School Superintendent N. Wayne Tripp. But the state retirement system leaves full- and part-time designations up to each school district. Part-time employees are not eligible for the Virginia Retirement System.
"We did it because it was just the right thing to do," he said. "Some of them have been with us for 10 years, the entire time we have been independent [from the county school system]."
Tripp said no other class of school employee had been excluded from state retirement benefits and that the board wanted "to reward loyalty." The item will cost the board $20,000 next year.
Raises for teachers will come at a cost of $450,000 next year. They will range from 3 percent for those with fewer than two or more than seven years of teaching experience to 5.5 percent for those with five years of experience.
Tripp said the raises are to make up for inequities in the pay scale that gave little financial recognition to teachers with three to six years of experience.
"We had a concern about the lower end of the scale," he said.
The board was particularly worried about not rewarding teachers who passed the three-year mark, the time at which they become eligible for tenure. A tenured teacher cannot be fired unless he or she violates conditions spelled out by state law.
"That should be recognized," Tripp said.
Currently, teachers with three years of experience are paid only $70 more than those with two years of experience, or $25,185. A teacher who works for six years in the Salem system is paid about $1,000 more than a starting teacher. Entry-level teaching positions pay $25,115.
Under next year's pay scale, teachers with three and four years of experience will be consolidated into a single step of the pay scale, as will those with five and six years of experience. The move will amount to a 4.3 percent raise for three-year teachers, a 4 percent raise for four-year teachers and a 5 percent raise for six-year teachers.
In addition, the board will pay an additional $500 toward each school employee's health insurance premiums. It is still unclear how that will affect the monthly cost to employees, Tripp said.
The new budget, with a 3.1 percent increase in operating funds, adds at least two new programs and drops one old one.
Under the proposed budget, which still must be approved by Salem City Council, a $70,000 building trades program that teaches carpentry, electrical, plumbing and masonry skills will be dropped. An unfilled position will go with it.
The city will pick up "Reading Recovery," a $13,000 one-to-one instructional program for problem readers in South and West Salem elementary schools, and a more than $15,000 computer library program for Andrew Lewis Middle School.
Monday's board meeting was initially set for Tuesday night but was rescheduled out of respect for School Board member Glenn O. Thornhill Jr., whose son died last week.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB