Beaufort Co. teachers will see COVID bonus, restored raises by summer. How much?
After a year of frozen pay and pandemic teaching, more than 2,800 Beaufort County School District employees will see a one-time COVID bonus and a restoration of their yearly raises.
The school board voted 10-1 Tuesday to approve a $1,000 bonus payment for current full-time employees who have worked more than 120 days for the district. William Smith was the lone “no” vote, saying he wanted part-time employees to receive the same amount.
This bonus will apply to approximately 1,781 teachers and 1,092 other full-time staff and will be distributed as a one-time payment in their May 14 paychecks.
It will cost about $3.1 million, which will be paid from the district’s general fund.
At a Friday work session, the board approved similar bonuses for 77 eligible part-time employees — current staff who have worked for the district since July 1, 2020 — that ranged from $100 to $800 based on total hours worked since then:
- $100 for less than 100 hours worked;
- $200 for between 100 and 299 hours worked;
- $400 for between 300 and 399 hours worked;
- $600 for between 400 and 799 hours worked;
- and $800 for more than 800 hours worked.
That decision had been delayed from Tuesday’s meeting following a lengthy discussion of the requirements to receive the bonus — originally, the district proposed part-time employees receive either $250 or $500, based on the number of days they worked in an average week.
Smith was the lone “no” vote on the part-time bonuses for the same reasons as Tuesday, and Earl Campbell’s vote was not cast. On Tuesday, Smith proposed giving all part-time employees a $1,000 bonus, but there was no second to his motion.
The district’s approximately 500 contract employees, including cafeteria staff, custodians and maintenance workers, will not receive a bonus.
Raises restored
All of the district’s employees will get back pay for any raises they were slated to get in the past year, following a unanimous board vote Tuesday.
In May 2020, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster signed a $155 million COVID-19 relief package that froze annual teacher salary “step increases” to the previous year’s levels.
These step increases give all district employees a raise every year, based on their years of experience and education level. For most Beaufort County teachers, this is an $800 to $1,500 annual raise.
While every district employee was affected by the freeze, beginning teachers were hit especially hard. The district does not have a “step” for second-year teachers, so third-year teachers were paid their starting salary for the third year in a row.
On March 11, McMaster signed a bill restoring step increases for teachers and certain other employees, such as school nurses, and promising that, by June 15, teachers would get back pay for last year’s “steps” in a lump sum.
The board approved the state-mandated amounts along with back pay for employees who weren’t included in that bill, such as district administrators, data clerks and bus drivers.
Eligible employees will receive the back pay in their June 4 paychecks.
The restored step increases will cost about $2.7 million, which will be paid from the district’s general fund.
District chief financial officer Tonya Crosby said the combined $5.8 million cost of the step increases and COVID bonuses can be redistributed from unexpected savings during the pandemic.
She said the district is projected to save $6.5 million from its 2021 budget in instructional salaries and benefits (due to staff vacancies), substitutes, travel and energy.
What about the district’s delayed tax income?
The board approved the COVID bonus in February but didn’t make the “final decision on the actual amount and the timing of the payments” until after the district collected its funding from Beaufort County’s delayed tax bills at the end of March.
The district relies on Beaufort County Council to approve its $250 million-plus annual budget every year and to provide the tax money to pay for it. The taxes, with a rate set by County Auditor Jim Beckert, represent approximately $150 million of the budget.
Tax bills normally are due by Jan. 15 but were delayed this year because of an ongoing legal battle between the Beaufort County Council and Beckert.
Crosby said that, as of Feb. 28, the district had collected $88.8 million of its expected tax income from the county, down 35% from 2020 totals.
The district collected an additional $53.5 million in March, according to an April 8 presentation by Crosby to the school board’s finance committee.
That means the district has collected 95% of its expected tax income from the county for 2021 and climbed back to its average collection rate from previous years.
In January, the school board approved borrowing up to $100 million in a tax anticipation note to “keep the lights on” and cover an anticipated debt payment of $67 million in February, along with the repayment of last year’s $14.3 million tax anticipation note.
District spokesperson Candace Bruder said April 1 that the district borrowed $80 million and expected to repay the tax anticipation note “around June 30.”
The borrowing is expected to cost the district $153,393 in interest and fees, Bruder said, which is a sharp decrease from the $350,000 estimate Crosby gave for out-of-pocket costs in January.
The board also voted in January to pursue legal action to recoup the cost of this borrowing when the lawsuit between Beckert and the county is completed.
School board member Richard Geier, who made that motion, said in January that legal action could take several forms, ranging from a demand letter to a lawsuit, though he added, “I don’t think it will come to that.” He said if he were on county council, he would increase the district’s tax rate next year to make up the amount.
This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 1:15 PM.