An unusual story for the times has been developing in Roanoke County over the past month or so. The Roanoke County School Board, at a school board retreat in Williamsburg, initially approved a one-time monetary award for each full time teacher and staff member. Initially, teachers were slated to receive $750 while support staff would receive $500. The money for disbursement was to come from an over-funded insurance reserve account.
When the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors learned of the award in the local paper the next day, they denied a public hearing that was needed before they would have to vote their approval of the matter. Usually, when a school board requests a public hearing, one is respectfully granted.
School employees who had learned of the award, were disappointed by the supervisors decision and decided to visit the supervisor meeting in which the hearing would have been held. Just minutes prior to the regular supervisor meeting, with a room packed with school employees, the supervisors and school board announced that they had come to a compromise that would extend the award to all county full time employees but would cap the award at $500 per employee.
The matter still will need a public hearing and final vote approval by the Board of Supervisors on December 15.
On Thursday, December 3, The Roanoke Times published an editorial critical of the "Bonus" for education employees. What follows is my personal response to the Roanoke Times editorial.
Thom Ryder
Now, in regard to The Roanoke Times Editorial
Times are tough. I do understand the point that was being made in a recent Roanoke Times Editorial. We are staring down the barrel of an unprecedented state budget deficit. More than likely, our pay will be frozen at least for the next two years. Positions may be affected. However, I know that the School Board will do everything to minimize that. Plus, the General Assembly is considering weakening our Virginia Retirement System. We are already seeing more students, enduring reduced supplies, spending more out of our own pockets, and facing ridiculous academic expectations. We are testing, testing, testing so that our children do well on tests. The job seems endless and almost insurmountable.
The way I see it, the $500 I will receive in the deal recently agreed to by the School Board and the Board of Supervisors, is a generous gesture that tells me people out there care about schools. Honestly, I don't think I'm alone in sometimes feeling that the general population views public schools more as four walls to stuff the children rather than as places where learning takes place. In the day-to-day relentless rigor of the classroom, teachers can feel as if they are alone in fighting for a quality education for their students. I appreciate what these two boards are attempting to do for us.
At the recent Board of Supervisors meeting on December 1, one of the supervisors reportedly suggested that the money may be a double-edged sword and might come back to bite us at budget time. Perhaps it will, if we let it. Ultimately, the public will have to come to realize that the way schools have been funded up to now will not be adequate in these troubled times. If we want good schools, we will have to pay for them. That means hiring needed personnel and paying a livable wage for all staff.
One other thing that I've heard repeatedly from the Supervisors and School Board is that ONE-TIME MONEY, like the money from our health insurance reserve account, can't be used to fund positions or to support salary raises. During the past few budget development cycles that I’ve monitored, the ONE-TIME MONEY rule has been pounded into my head. Delivering the surplus insurance reserve account money back to the employees in a one-time disbursement is an allowable and just use of that fund.
As a person who will receive the $500 should it be finally approved, I am thankful. Never before in my life, except for the first year I taught school in 1982, have I needed that money more. With several unplanned and unavoidable expenses, times are extremely tight in my family. I don't think I'm any different from anyone else in that regard. I make no bones about it; I need that money, and I am grateful that the School Board thought of this and fought for it.
The Roanoke Times says that we should show up on December 15. * That sounds like a fine idea.
~Thom Ryder
Elementary Representative
Oak Grove Elementary
*The second Supervisor meeting of each month is held in two sessions. The first goes from 3pm until approximately 5:30. The second begins at 7pm and runs until business is concluded. At this time, we are unsure when the public hearing on our matter will be scheduled. The official agenda will most likely come out about a week before the meeting.
