Oldham County Schools approves teacher raises, cuts expenses in other areas

CRESTWOOD, Ky. (WDRB) -- Oldham County Schools' teachers will see a pay bump next school year, but the district had to cut spending in other areas in order to approve the increase.

The board of education approved a 2% salary increase for all teachers this week, in addition to teachers' step increase, which is about 1%. A step increase is essentially a built-in raise on teachers' contracts.

"We are really excited and optimistic about the efforts we've done, to really re-recruit our own people, to show them how much they're appreciated, how much they're valued and that word of mouth can really spread because we're really trying to take a multi-prong approach," said OCS Superintendent Jason Radford.

To fund the raises, Radford said the district downsized its administrative district staff positions, reducing expenses by about $600,000.

"Just really showing to our employees we're making a strong commitment to support students and their learning in the classroom," Radford said.

The district also increased its student-to-teacher ratio by one. Radford said because of this, some schools may have to cut down teachers' planning period time to accommodate for smaller class sizes each period.

"Master schedules for the school, that's all from the principal level and SBDM (school board decision making) Council, and their schedule for how they support their students, our board provides the allocations and SBDM then decides usually how to use those allocations that are given to them by the Board of Education," said Radford.

Radford said the district will present its calendar proposal to the board in March, which includes additional early release days, in an effort to make up for daily planning time lost.

"Time still under contract to be able to continue to support them, each other, and professional learning communities and grow their craft and further staff development," Radford said.

North Oldham High School teacher Tina Beck said she appreciates the 2% raise, but wishes it kept up with inflation.

"Speaking for myself, I just don't feel the salary is that competitive," Beck said.

A first-year teacher with a bachelor's degree at OCS makes just over $38,000.

The board also approved no longer charging tuition for teachers who live outside of the district, but choose to send their children to Oldham County Schools. 

Beck, who sends her son to OCS but lives in Jefferson County, said this is an added benefit.

The board also approved additional vacation days for full-time, classified support staff in efforts to help recruit and retain staff. Teachers will also be able to roll over personal days into sick days. 

Last year, the district approved a 3% salary raise for its teachers, in addition to its step increase. Radford said to sustain salary increases at OCS, it will need the state to reevaluate the Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) funding program, which is a formula driven allocation of state funding to school districts. 

"While we appreciate the increase we got last year in the budget cycle for this biennium, $100 per student this year and $200 next year, that's not enough for our school district to continue to maintain the level of support pay and be competitive," Radford said.