BCSD Press Release:
BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–Much like school districts in other counties in South Carolina, Berkeley County School District officials say they trying to remove the gap between its teachers’ salaries and the compensation other districts offer.
According to school district officials, the only way the Berkeley County School District can offer competitive salaries to teachers is by increasing the millage rate.
Teacher Compensation
A recent questionnaire administered by Berkeley County Schools surveyed 1,325 teachers in the county. Most of the teachers reportedly surveyed had zero to five years of experience, with the second largest group surveyed being those with six to 10 years of experience. According to the results, approximately 19 percent of teachers surveyed are members of households that depend on the income of two teachers and approximately 61 percent of those surveyed said they perform other activities related to teaching to supplement their income. Some of those other activities included homebound instruction, after school tutoring and summer school. Forty-four percent of teachers surveyed said they have second jobs to supplement their income and approximately 70 percent said they spend $100 to $500 during the school year on classroom supplies.
These issues along with teachers across the state being given no state-level cost of living increase for the last 10 years, creates an undeniable strain on teachers.
Discussing Berkeley County teacher compensation, Dr. Michael Turner, Interim Superintendent of Berkeley County School District said, “The compensation teachers receive in Berkeley County is significantly lower than that of surrounding districts.”
According to the salary schedule for Dorchester School District 2 (DD2), Charleston County School District (CCSD) and Berkeley County School District (BCSD), Berkeley County Schools lag behind in compensation, with the average difference being up to $2,000 or more. For example, a first year teacher with a Bachelor’s Degree in CCSD earns $34,656 according to the Charleston County School District FY2015 190 Day Teacher Salary Schedule, while a first year teacher in DD2 earns $34,721. A first year teacher in BCSD earns $31,931. The difference becomes larger as teachers gain experience. For example, a fifth year teacher with a Bachelor’s Degree in CCSD earns $38,653, one in DD2 earns $37,409 and a BCSD teacher earns $36,147.
After reviewing the differences in salary schedules for DD2, CCSD and BCSD, Dr. Turner said, “It’s not fair to ask teachers to give up pay to the point where they have a difficult time making ends meet. Our inability to offer comparable salaries negatively affects our ability to attract and maintain high quality educators. We’re driving away good people. If you don’t keep up with people’s needs, it becomes a moral issue. We must adequately provide for our teachers so they can have happy and prosperous careers.”
Growth
Berkeley County is growing at a massive rate. Charleston city planners have designated the Cainhoy peninsula, including Daniel Island a “hot spot” for residential development. The I-26 corridor, particularly Summerville; and the Cane Bay, Carnes Crossroads and Nexton areas are also projected to grow significantly. Nexton has approximately 10,000 units planned. In the new Foxbank subdivision in Moncks Corner, 2,400 multi-family homes are planned. An estimated 15,000 people will live in Carnes Crossroads and 800 homes are under construction in the Cane Bay area. More growth is planned for the area as a result of Volvo selecting Berkeley County as the site of its new assembly plant. To put it into perspective, the 2011-2012 IPSAC Update Final Report by Operations Research and Education Laboratory (ORED), forecasted that by 2021-2022 K-12 totals will include over 38,000 students and represent a gain of over 9,000 students over the next ten years.” Because the study was completed in 2011-2012, the estimated number of students in Berkeley County by 2021-2022 is now exponentially higher.
The expected growth in student enrollment and the opening of Nexton Elementary School require that the district substantially increase the number of teachers and personnel support to maintain the quality of district programs. Additional teachers are needed to address class size overages that occurred during the 2014-2015 year in selected schools.
Discussing the growth in the district, the changes necessary to manage that growth and teacher wages, Dr. Turner said, “We can’t be expected to make up the difference while expanding. It costs a lot of money to open schools and operating costs will go up. We can’t make up the difference in the general fund budget by keeping teacher salaries lower than our neighbors.”
Act 388 and Millage Increase
Act 388 Property Tax Reimbursement is a state law that eliminated property taxes on primary residences for school operations and increased sales tax by one cent. Revenue from the penny tax goes into a special fund for reimbursing school districts for the loss of property taxes. Since the implementation of the penny tax, the sales tax revenue has been less than what is needed to reimburse schools. According to Public Education Partners of Greenville County, for the last five years, the annual shortfall for the state has been more than $100 million.
With the shortfall of penny tax revenue, money that was once used to create competitive salaries to attract and maintain educators is non-existent. For the 2014-2015 year, the difference between the actual penny tax amount received and the pre Act 388 amount received is $4,517,515 for Berkeley County School District.
Referring to all of the budget cuts Berkeley County School District and other districts have experienced and still thinking of teacher salaries, Dr. Turner said, “We have been squeezed so much until we are squeezing the life out of our instructional programs.”
Beaufort County School District increased its millage rate last year to generate $114.9 million for schools. Earlier this month, by increasing its millage rate, Greenville County School District was able to provide raises and more competitive salaries for its teachers. A millage rate increase would not affect residential owner occupied homes. It would affect the amount of taxes paid on vehicles, for manufacturing, utilities, watercrafts, aircrafts, business personal property and rental properties assessed at 6 percent or higher.
Berkeley County School District’s Chief Finance Officer, Brantley Thomas, said, “Because of Act 388, an increase in mills is the only avenue we can use to increase teacher salaries outside of growth and revenue.”
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