Proposed budget for Memphis-Shelby County Schools includes increased teacher pay and new school security

Higher teacher salaries and updated school safety measures highlight the budget plan Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) interim superintendent Tutonial “Toni” Williams and district CFO Tito Langston presented to Shelby County Commissioners Wednesday morning.Langston asked Commissioners for funding to invest an additional $27.3 million in teacher salaries along with incentives to attract and retain teachers.“We know we want to do more for our teachers, but we’ve landed to where this is the funding available to be able to do this,” said Langston.Langston and Williams met with both teachers and parents to create the district’s plan that includes the highest starting salary for teachers in the Shelby County community.The district’s budget request also includes sign-on and retention bonuses of $10,000 to $15,000 to fill needed positions in the English Second Language, Dual Language, Equal Opportunity Compliance, Special Education, Pre-K and I-zone along with a bonus for academic performance on state testing."I'm always going to advocate for teachers, right. I believe that you cannot do this work without teachers so I'm going to, on record, always advocate," said Superintendent Williams.The district is also proposing an additional $3.2 million to fund salary increases for school leaders, a two percent raise for all non-instructional employees, and stipends for athletic coaches, resource officers, electricians, plumbers, and HVAC technicians in the schools.Investments in School SecurityThe proposed budget also includes investments in school safety.A requested 37.6 million would fund camera upgrades, weapon detection, fencing around the schools and personnel to monitor the weapons detection equipment.The district is also requesting $17 million to upgrade all safety-related technology."Safety has been in the forefront of all out minds. We've talked through really the length of securing our buildings, making sure our staff is safe, making sure our students are safe," said Williams.¶