Beaufort Co. school employees set to receive $2,000 bonuses by December. Here’s why
Beaufort County School Board members voted Wednesday night to grant a total of up to $6 million in bonuses for full-time district employees.
The reason? To help with employees’ cost of living.
“I do believe Beaufort County has gotten so high in terms of rent that we need to do whatever we can where we can get teachers to a point where they can afford an apartment,” board member Ingrid Boatright said.
The bonus, read aloud at the meeting, stated the district would “provide each current, full-time employee, who remains employed by the district on Nov. 15, 2022, a $2,000 retention bonus.”
Additionally, the proposal could allow for new, full-time employees hired for the 2022-23 school year to receive a $2,000 recruitment bonus, as long as they are still working at the district on Nov. 15. The one-time bonuses total $6 million for the district’s employees from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds and will be paid in December, according to district Chief Financial Officer Tonya Crosby.
“The board made it pretty clear in the beginning of the budget process that recruiting and retaining teachers was the No. 1 priority this year,” Board Chair David Striebinger said Thursday. “Administration heard that and I think they came back with a pretty good proposal.”
Previously, the board had agreed to give teachers a 3% cost-of-living increase payable starting June 10. This vote does not negate the salary bump, decided upon in a board work session March 25, Crosby said. That increase is to be retroactive to July 1, 2021. The money for raises, a total of $5.5 million, will come out of the district’s 2022 General Fund operating budget, according to previous reporting.
Additionally, teachers are set to receive a $1,000 bonus for preparing both online and in-person lessons during the pandemic, and teachers who delivered those lessons due to having students in quarantine would get more, depending on how long they were teaching the dual-modality classes.
The dual-modality bonus is set to go out June 17, Crosby said. Those bonuses are expected to total up to $2 million of the district’s ESSER funds.
‘Dire’ housing crunch
Wednesday’s vote comes after multiple current and former teachers spoke out during a meeting Tuesday about salaries and affordable housing.
Estee Williams, who graduated from Beaufort High School and taught in the district for years, said “teachers are not paid enough,” especially in Beaufort County.
“Everyone worries every year whether the cost-of-living bonus will be passed,” Williams said. “Knowing for sure that money and more will be there for teachers will be a relief for teachers.”
Superintendent Frank Rodriguez said when he spoke with a teacher from the district before the meeting, they told him that they “want to live in the community” where they teach, but that the cost of rent was too high.
“That’s powerful,” Rodriguez said.
Board member Boatright said Beaufort County is in a “uniquely difficult housing crunch” and called the situation “dire.”
Board member Angela Middleton agreed, saying it made “no sense for teachers to be in the classroom nine hours a day and then go home and work a part-time job.”
“With rents going up (we need to) put our money where our mouth is,” Middleton said.
This story was originally published May 5, 2022 at 2:44 PM.
