Some Stafford County teachers are upset because this year's pay freeze doesn't apply to new hires.
Returning Stafford teachers will not receive cost-of-living raises or step increases, which reward them for years of experience.
However, new instructors with teaching experience hired for the fiscal year that begins July 1 will get a higher salary under the step-increase schedule.
Teachers straight out of college will make $36,322--the same as colleagues who have worked a year in the county.
"We're still having to attract teachers," said Director of Human Resources Rick Fitzgerald. "We have to maintain a certain competitiveness with our surrounding jurisdictions." He said the division will look into the possibility of increasing all teacher salaries around January.
An example of Stafford's pay controversy is that new teachers with five years' experience will start at level five on the salary scale in 2009-10. Returning instructors with equal experience will stay at level four, making $981 less.
"I believe there should be equity, whatever it is," said Stafford Education Association President Jannette Martin. "I think it's a slap in the face to current employees to be paid less because they've shown the loyalty."
This year marks the first time in recent memory that Stafford teachers haven't received step increases.
No school systems in the Fredericksburg area approved cost-of-living raises or step increases this year because of the recession.
The SEA plans to file a Virginia Freedom of Information Act request for all employee salaries to gauge discrepancies in pay.
School Board Chairwoman Patricia Healy said she sympathizes with teachers, but doesn't know how to address the issue at the moment.
"I understand where they're coming from, and I wish we could do something about it now," she said. "But unless we made a decision to penalize the new hires, I don't know what else we could do."
Stafford employs almost 1,900 teachers, Fitzgerald said. He said he's projecting 150 new hires and said about 60 percent have no experience.
Stafford didn't lay off any teachers, and actually added 25 positions for 2009-10 using federal stimulus money.
"At least we didn't have to cut hours or pay and take those kind of measures," Healy said.
School administrators in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County said no employees, including new hires, will receive step increases.
In fact, salaries for Fredericksburg teachers with no experience will be 2 percent less than they were last year, said city Superintendent David Melton.
"We didn't want that situation where a new hire would come in with less experience and make the same or more money than an existing teacher," he said.
Martin said education association members throughout the region told her they're not aware of similar pay inequities between returning teachers and new hires.
She said she believes Stafford could have found money for across-the-board pay increases.
"I think it would've gone a long way if they had even found a small amount," she said.
Jeff Branscome: 540/374-5402
Email: jbranscome@freelancestar.com
| Stafford County's teacher salary scale will be the same in 2009-10 as it was the previous academic year. Here are some examples of how much teachers will make at various steps on the scale:
$75,080 for teachers $58,940 for level 20 $46,269 for level 10 $36,322 for starting teachers and those who |