The Sumner County school board has approved pay raises for all staff this week as part of its 2024-2025 school year budget, pending approval by the Sumner County Commission in June.
During Tuesday’s school board meeting, Sumner County Schools Director Scott Langford said the district plans to increase teacher pay to $47,800, representing an average raise amount of $3,023 for more experienced instructors. Overall, the district has approved an additional $28,950,000 in the budget to increase pay for all staff and district employees.
According to the budget, the district plans to increase classified staff pay to a minimum of $16 an hour. The district also plans to increase special ed staff pay by an additional $10,000, as well as compensation for substitute teachers moving forward.
“With this proposed raise, starting teacher pay has increased by $11,700 since January 2020, an increase of 32.4%. The proposed classified raise also marks a 33% increase,” Sumner County Schools officials said in a Facebook post.
The board also expanded employees’ benefit packages to include a one-month medical benefits holiday to make up for increases in health insurance costs, as well as continuing funding for 80 percent of family and individual insurance plans. The board will also provide six weeks of maternity and paternity leave for all district employees, according to the budget.
Langford said during Tuesday’s school board discussion on the budget that recent discussions about pay raises have led to more applications for open positions in the district.
He noted that the compensation raises aim to help give the district an edge in recruiting moving forward, adding that officials have been worried that the district could “start losing great people because they’re just worn out” due to staffing needs.
“As I’ve been out at graduations the past week, I’ve talked a lot to teachers and staff about the need for the compensation jump,” he said during Tuesday’s meeting.
