Passed Knox Schools budget includes 2% raises

Knox County Schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre's proposed budget has passed, complete with a 2 percent across-the-board raise for school staff, which would take effect mid-year.

The Knox County Board of Education passed the budget around 7 p.m. Monday in a special called meeting.

The $370 million budget includes cuts to several programs, including Project GRAD, the magnet schools, Birth to Kindergarten and Kindergarten Intervention.

To balance the budget, school officials also took money from the fund balance and will rely on money they get from staff turnover.

"The economic climate being what it is, we've had to make some difficult choices, but again, ultimately, I think we have been able to put together a budget that makes good fiscal sense, makes good educational sense, and while it's not without some reductions and some pain, I think ultimately it will help us be successful in Knox County schools," McIntyre said.

Both board members and teacher representatives praised the 2 percent raises, although they say more work must be done to attract quality educators.

"This is a tight budget year," said Athanasios Bayiates, the president of the Knox County Education Association. "The school board and the new director of schools have shown that they're willing to look at what they can do to improve salaries for public school educators, which is extremely important if you want to make a difference in the classroom, but it begs the questions, when you see all these budget cuts that had to be made, we need more money for our public schools."

Board president Karen Carson also lamented the fact that the raises don't take effect until January.

"Is it OK," she said. "It's only OK in comparison to not getting it at all or getting a bonus that is non-recurring each year, so I think it's the best solution out of the funding that we have."

Earlier in the meeting, board members heard the results of a survey on the school calendar.

The results of the survey, conducted by University of Tennessee researcher Dr. Michael Gant, indicate most prefer the school calendar the way it is.

The survey polled parents, teachers, students, and business owners. Overall, most preferred the current calendar.

The least popular was the "year-round" model that would shorten summer break but extend the breaks between grading periods.

When you break down the results, most parents supported the current calendar or a school year with a later August start date.

Businesses preferred a post-Labor Day start,while students liked either the current calendar or the "year-round" model.

The board did not take any action on the results at Monday's meeting.