OUR VIEW: Balancing pay requests with reality

Staff Editorial
Published: August 16, 2008

» SUMMARY: Publicly asking for raises is fine, but local teachers, as well as all employees, need to consider the economic times in which we live.

Culpeper County teachers, students and parents created quite a sight Monday night as almost 60 people marched through the streets downtown, asking for teacher raises, a revised academic schedule and lower health care costs.
It was an impressive showing and commendable that teachers and other citizens were willing to express their opinions to the School Board in a visible, yet calm and respectable, manner.

The board would do well to take note of the demonstration and continue to listen to any of their constituents who voice concerns, especially regarding the calendar issue, which may be the marchers’ most valid argument.

On the flip side, the teachers who marched for raises should also take a realistic approach to our troubling economic climate. In this day and age, everyone is having to sacrifice, not just teachers.

Raises have been hard to come by in many businesses and governmental jobs, and the tax revenue just isn’t there to support all of our needs. Keep in mind that everyone is paying more for health care and that most teachers in the county enjoyed sizeable raises — around 8 percent — just two years ago.

Perhaps aggravating the issue is the 28 percent raise Acting Superintendent Larry Carter recently received. Yes, Carter will have larger responsibilities as he moves into the position of leading our school district, therefore meriting some sort of pay bump, but his hefty hike does raise concerns about where the money will come from and what must be cut in order to pay for it.

In the marchers’ defense, the School Board has left itself open for criticism on these types of issues and created more financial challenges with the way it handled the contract of Carter’s predecessor, David Cox.

Obviously, some opinions will fall on each side, but the silver lining is that everyone involved has taken a civil and reasonable approach so students and teachers can enter the school year with their focus on academics rather than economics.