Employees of Henry County Schools are getting a one-time $200 pay supplement after action taken at an April 2 special called meeting of the Henry County Board of Education.
The board voted unanimously to approve the allocation of $1.2 million to provide the nearly 6,000 district employees with the supplement. The district is saving about $1.6 million during the 45 days that the schools are closed due to COVID-19, superintendent Dr. Mary Elizabeth Davis reported, because a number of major expenditures such as fuel for buses is not required now, although there is a slight offset because the district continues to provide food for students without any revenue from a food program.
Also, overall spending is nearly 2.5 percent below what was projected by this time according to the FY 2020 budget, Davis said. Officials are already planning the FY 2021 budget, she added, and those needs are being taken into consideration as well.
“I was concerned about possibly going into our reserves,” said board member Annette Edwards, who initially asked Davis for details about district savings. “I’m glad to hear that this expenditure [pay supplement] will not do that.”
When asked by board chairman Josh Hinton about current payroll, Davis replied that all permanent employees are continuing to receive their regular paychecks. This includes more than 80 “job families,” as she put it, from certified teachers and administrators to support staff in dozens of categories. Substitute teachers who were filling an extended role due to maternity leave or some other typical case are also getting paid as they continue to work with students during the current isolation period.
The school board meeting took place one day after Gov. Brian Kemp announced that schools would be closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 academic year. It was convened by video conference.
The board also passed an emergency resolution for contingency operations, specifying such things as which policies and rules have been waived by the state school board during this time and giving Davis the authority to identify essential employees and work duties among other things.
Atlanta public schools substitute teachers are being paid what they made on their last check for three pay periods. Will substitute teachers in Henry county be paid any thing since we can’t work. Was their any money allocated for substitute teachers this year? We are a vital part of the school system. For some of the substitutes this is their sole lively hood.
I don’t see any reason why teachers should be getting any pay supplement if they are making their regular wages. Many taxpayers are out of jobs and living on temporary unemployment while teachers work from home drawing their regular paycheck. Schools are constantly wanting more and more money from taxpayers; now that they have a “savings” they spend it on paying teachers additional money. Teachers know their salary when they take the position; yet they are constantly asking for more money. The school millage rate (TAX) is as high as allowed for education. It’s a slap in the face of Henry County taxpayers for the Board of Education to spend “savings” due to school closings this way without taxpayer input. SAVE the money and put it to use for the STUDENTS. Enough is enough!
How about making it $2000 instead and include substitute teachers? But first, they’ll have to agree to stop teaching political viewpoints and start teaching stuff kids can actually use after graduation.