Included in Buncombe County Schools’ 2021-22 budget request was $78,154 for a 340% wage increase for board members. BCS Superintendent Tony Baldwin told the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners during the May 10 budget meeting the raise will be the board’s first since the late 1980s.
Baldwin did not say why board members’ stipends have not gone up in three decades. School board chair Ann Franklin said the board’s pay hadn’t even been evaluated since the 80s.
“Why now? Well I’m not a board member, but I’m a superintendent that is working through COVID. Needless to say, stresses have come,” Baldwin said. “Certainly, I think, (the raise) would highlight the importance and responsibility that comes to those board members.”