Durham school workers push for higher pay before board's budget decision
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Cold rain didn't keep the Durham Association of Educators inside.
The group gathered outside to lobby for higher pay for classified workers ahead of a key school board vote on next year's budget.
The proposed budget calls for a 12% raise for support staff. That includes bus drivers, mechanics, interpreters, and custodians.
It also includes an additional $100 per month for transportation safety assistants.
"That would bring Durham public school workers up to the county minimum, which is $19.22. But we're standing by our ask to bring workers, classified workers, up to $22 an hour," said DAE President Mika Twietmeyer.
She was encouraged that the initial proposed pay increase of 5% was bumped to 12%.
But Twietmeyer said the current proposal doesn't reflect the value of the workers. She said workers are not being paid a living wage or compensated for extra duties they are assigned.
"It looks like extra routes for drivers. It looks like extra floors and extra rooms, and hours of extra work for our custodians," explained Twietmeyer.
Inside the school board headquarters, the Durham School Board hammered away over the numbers.
It's the last major discussion before the board is expected to vote on the budget on March 26.
Board members came with reality checks.
"The reality that our very progressive commissioners live in and our county manager lives in, where what they told us really plainly was that we have $8 million total for all additional funding requests from all departments that report to the county, and they include us in that," said School Board Member Natalie Beyer.
School Board Member Jessica Carda-Auten came with questions. She wanted to know how the district was making potential cuts.
"In light of the fact, that money is short, what are all the ways we are exploring, like how we are doing that, to examine where we don't need to be spending or not doing the things that might be extra right now?" she asked.
In the end, education and community advocates are hoping that as the adults figure out the math, students aren't subtracted from the equation.
"It's far past time to have a good, solid education for our students and for our communities, said Ali Khorasani with Durham for All.
He said the current staffing situation negatively affects students.
"It's really affecting our students' ability to even show up to class. I'm talking about the transportation crisis we had last year, and we're still struggling to fill those bus monitoring roles and actually have a fully staffed school bus system, let alone other stuff," Khorasani said.
