Most Fayette school employees will get more than 3% salary increase, board chair says

The minimum 3% salary increase that the Fayette County Board of Education approved for 2022-23 is only part of the picture of the district’s new investments for staff wages, board chair Tyler Murphy said Tuesday

Most employees will get more, Murphy said.

At a news conference, he said that every contracted Fayette district employee will make more money next year than they did this year and that the 3% pay raise approved Monday is on top of any increases for experience and education they are eligible to receive. Those experience increases average out to 1.5%.

No contracted employee will receive less than $15.55 an hour, Murphy said.

These changes are in addition to the 2% salary increase all contracted Fayette employees received during the 2021-22 school year, he said.

When you look at the two year budget, all of the increases constitute a 5% pay raise, Murphy said.

Teachers had asked for a 5% raise in the upcoming school year to combat inflation.

Murphy said salary increases for next year also reflect the changes recommended as part of a compensation study for hourly workers. One change was reclassifying positions to ensure pay rates are in line with competitive market values.

Under current revenue calculations, the district is projected to receive $3.3 million in additional state education funds for salary raises. The Fayette County Board of Education is spending $26.3 million on increased salaries — nearly eight times those additional state funds.

That $26. 3 million amount includes:

• An additional $12 million for hourly employees, which includes $1.1 million in increases for years of service.
• An additional $12.3 million for salaried employees, which includes $3.9 million for the increases for education and experience.
• An additional $2 million for two optional work days that allow teachers to receive additional pay for some of the time they spend getting their classrooms ready before the school year begins.

Board members know public school employees are historically underpaid, Murphy said, and that’s why the board did what they could to invest as much as possible in the staff.

Another compensation study for salaried employees could be on the horizon, said Murphy.

“We didn’t want to get out ahead of any study recommendations that may come out of that,“ he said.

With the previous salary increase, the current budget projections, what the district is anticipating for the future and other adjustments, “we felt like the 3% raise this year...fit well within our needs,” said Murphy.

“We scrutinized the budget to maximize the salary increases for our employees,” said Murphy. “In reality though, the incredible people who work in our schools every day are worth more than we can ever pay them.”

“In a world where salaries reflected the importance of the work you do, school employees would have the multimillion-dollar contracts currently enjoyed by professional athletes and movie stars,” Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Demetrus Liggins said in a statement Tuesday.