By Burton Cole
BUTLER — Pendleton County Schools teachers will receive a 6 percent pay increase next school year.
The Board of Education last week unanimously approved district Superintendent Joe Buerkley’s recommendation to grant the increase, which is a combination of state funding and district resources.
“This is a $1.5 million investment in our teachers,” Buerkley told the board at its April 22 regular meeting at Sharp Middle School. He called the move necessary “to attract and retain quality teachers in the district.”
Also, all hourly employees will receive a $3 an hour raise.
He also noted a number of other adjustments for the 2024-25 school year, including dropping from two assistant principals at the high school to one.
“The enrollment does not dictate that we need a second,” he said. “We have a vacancy. We won’t fill it.”
Buerkley credited state Sen. Shelley Funk Frommeyer and state Rep. Mark Hart with helping shepherd legislation that made the increases possible.
“They always answer me even when we don’t agree,” he said.
Among the issues commonwealth lawmakers dealt with during the session that just ended was SEEK — Support Education Excellence in Kentucky — funding. The original proposal from Gov. Andy Beshear was an 11 percent increase for all teachers statewide.
By the time the budget went through both houses, the SEEK allocation had been cut to allow a 1.5 percent step increase across the board. The district added a 4.5 percent raise to that to bring the increase up to 6 percent, Buerkley said.
The state budget also will pay for 90 percent of the transportation fund this coming school year, and 100 percent the next.
“But,” Buerkley said, “that was 90 percent of a fixed number (from a previous budget that doesn’t account for increased costs), so that 90 percent is really 74 percent.”
That’s still better than this past school year when state funding covered 56.7 percent of the transportation fund, he said.
Other highlights from the Pendleton Schools budget include:
• The allocation for a district speech pathologist also was increased even though the position is empty so that the money is on the books to hire a pathologist or assistant or contract as needed.
• Four staff development positions are being added to support teachers and staff, as a result of feedback from the 2023-24 Impact Kentucky Working Conditions Survey that was administered to certified educators across the state.
• The salary schedules were changed so that annual step increases are equal. That was not so in an employee group designated as Category B.
• Stipends granted to coaches and for extra duties remain unchanged.
• There also is no change to the substitute teacher schedule, but that could change depending on what happens to a state house bill dealing with substitute teachers.
OTHER BUSINESS
Buerkley reported that construction and renovations at Sharp Middle School are on schedule. Work inside the school will continue this summer after classes are dismissed.
Outside, there was a grandstand electrical issue in which work for the press box did not pass inspection, but that is being resolved with help from Hart, he said.
In other business, the board unanimously agreed to:
• Pay $895,239 to the Morel Group for work completed and certified for Sharp Middle School renovations and stadium project;
• Pay $232, 222 to The Motz Group for work completed and certified for the project, as well as $52,461 to Genan and $231,048 to Shaw Integrated on the project;
• Pay $100,052 to Stuppy Inc. for the greenhouse project;
• Accepted a donations from the Northern Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization of $3,708.50 from the spring flower sale and $2,291.50 from its general fund for school technology;
• Approved moving allocations from other funds to add $550,000 back into the budget for schools.