The Wake County Board of Education is set to vote Tuesday night on a $55.8 million budget increase from Wake County, namely for raising minimum wage to $17 per hour for employees.
The minimum pay raise would also come with incremental wage increases for those with more experience, to avoid wage compression among employees with differing amounts of experience.
The vote would come a day after Wake County Manager David Ellis proposed $16 million less for the Wake County Public School System — just $634 million, compared to the school board’s expected request of $650 million.
Last week, board members discussed a potentially even bigger increase, following pushes from school system employees for $18.20 per hour. School system officials said they would return to the board Tuesday with estimate on how much a handful of wages between $17 per hour and $18.20 per hour would cost.
Discussion of the budget will start during the 2 p.m. work session, and a vote is scheduled toward the end of the 5:30 p.m. regular meeting.
Current minimum wage is $16 per hour, though some types of employees have starting wages above that.
Superintendent Catty Moore wants to increase county funding to the school system by $55.8 million next year, to $650.1 million — a 9% increase in county funding and greater amount that the $53.5 million in new revenue Wake County expects to bring in next year.
Just less than half of that — $25.8 million — would go toward employee compensation.
The budget would raise...
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