During school board budget meetings last week, MCEA representatives highlighted the desire for teacher raises, which have not been given by the board since 2017.
MCEA representatives told the school board that a raise for teachers is much needed, especially following a tough year amid COVID-19. In contrast, the Maury County Commission is proposing a 5% raise for all county employees.
During the budget meeting last week, MCEA president Stephanie Sparks-Newland read the children s story, “Swimmy,” by Leo Lionni to the board, emphasizing the need for teacher raises in a tough environment amid COVID-19.
Fellow teachers attended the meeting, reciting in unison the book s catch phrase, just keep swimming, illustrating the idea that teachers must keep going despite no increase in compensation.
The Daily Herald
The Maury County Board of Education is moving forward with a plan to sell the historic McDowell Elementary School property.
The elementary school, the longest continually operating campus in the county, will shut its doors at the end of this school year with a plan of transferring students and educators to other campuses across the district.
The plan follows the board s September 2020 decision to close the campus, which has accrued more than $5 million in needed repairs to keep the facility open for the coming school year and a total of $29 million over the course of the next decade.
The Daily Herald
Maury County School Board is planning to make almost $2 million in cutsin vacant teaching positions and school programs in an effort to trim its budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year.
The deep cuts into the proposed budget also include a deduction in the human resources director s salary, from $115,000 to $100,000, and slicing the textbook budget by approximately $423,000. The school board also proposes to cut positions and stipends by $200,000 in the Kids on Stage program.
Proposed positions aimed to boost student learning, such as a response to intervention teacher with a salary of 80,000, could also be eliminated from the budget proposal.