THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, March 12, 1995                 TAG: 9503110171
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON    PAGE: 05   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   46 lines

SCHOOL WORKERS TO GET 3 PERCENT RAISE IN FALL

The School Board reached consensus at a Thursday budget workshop to provide teachers and other school employees a 3 percent salary raise for the 1995-96 year.

But if City Council gives city workers a more generous pay hike, the board may ask the city for more money to address apparent salary inequities between city and school employees.

Superintendent Sidney L. Faucette recommended the raise as part of a new pay-step scale that ties salary increases to experience.

``My bottom line is that we have to be fair, and in this economy, at this time, it's fair,'' board Chairwoman June T. Kernutt said of the proposed 3 percent boost.

The Virginia Beach Education Association, which represents school employees, is seeking a 3 percent cost-of-living raise in addition to the 3 percent pay-step raise Faucette has proposed.

At a public hearing on the budget Thursday, Vickie Hendley, VBEA president, said city workers the past two years have received 5.5 percent more in wages than school employees. Hendley said a city wage study recommends that city workers get a 4 1/2 percent ``step'' increase plus a ``market adjustment'' of more than 3 percent.

``This inequity clearly needs to be addressed,'' Hendley said. School employees would not gain spending power with only a 3 percent raise, she said.

Board member Ulysses Van Spiva agreed that teachers deserve more of a raise, and he suggested the school system provide it by either cutting spending in other areas or asking the city for more money.

``I strongly believe, after studying the salaries, that we're behind and our people are losing purchasing power. And I believe we are losing in recruiting power,'' Spiva said.

Board members Joseph D. Taylor II and Susan L. Creamer said they thought a 3 percent raise would be generous.

``When we look at private industry, some people don't even get 3 percent,'' Creamer said. She said a larger raise would be hard to justify to the public. by CNB