Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools administrators are asking the Board of Education to raise pay rates for hourly support employees, after a third-party consultant’s compensation study.
It would mark the district’s first comprehensive pay raise since 2007. The district is asking the board to approve new pay schedules that would increase the minimum pay to at least $20 per hour for workers the district calls classified employees, such as technicians, custodians, bus monitors and other assistants and coordinators.
The nearly $26-million proposal would increase pay for about 5,000 employees — including more than 3,800 who are not currently making at least $20 per hour.
Those changes would be retroactive to July 1. They won’t include certified employees like teachers, whose pay is set by the state and supplemented by local districts.
Superintendent Crystal Hill said compensation has long been a concern in recruiting the best employees and ensuring student success.
“Employees shared concerns that they were not compensated appropriately and the method to calculate their compensation was unclear," Hill said. "This resulted in multiple requests for individual compensation reviews.”
The board is set to vote on the proposal at its Jan. 28 meeting. It would be implemented in February, with funding available within this year’s budget.
This first round of changes would mostly impact employees in pay grades 1 through 5. But it’s only phase one of the full recommendation outlined in the study. The administration plans to recommend two additional phases of the compensation adjustment to the school board over the next three years, which could include further adjustments like recognizing years of service.
