Effective Dec. 1, a new salary scale for the roughly 400 classified employees of Orange County Schools will reward many loyal personnel with increased pay.
The scale, which was approved by the Orange County Board of Education at its Nov. 1 meeting, will allow the salaries of classified employees such as teaching assistants, office workers and custodians to be determined by workers' experience in the school system and credentials, said Superintendent Shirley Carraway.
The new scale is aimed at rectifying long-standing discrepancies between the salaries of staff who have been with the school system a number of years and those that have been hired more recently.
The existing salary system did not allow classified staff to earn increases in pay based on years of experience. Some had not received a raise in about 20 years, said school board member Elizabeth Brown.
"We had employees who had been there a long time who were making less than newly hired people who were doing the same job," said Anne D'Annunzio, spokeswoman for county schools. "There was no process built in to reward people with experience."
While the new system applies to all classified personnel, employees' salaries will be determined by where they fall on the scale.
"For some people, this won't mean a raise this year but means they will move up incrementally every year," said school board chairwoman Libbie Hough.
"So it's a way to make sure that we recognize and reward those people who stay with Orange County. Some of the folks getting the biggest chunk this year are some of the folks that have been with us the absolute longest."
The school board commissioned a salary study by consultant Stan Morgan last spring to determine appropriate levels of pay relative to experience based on pay scales used by other school systems, said school board member Dennis Whitling.
