Fort Mill teacher pay is going up again. But it’s another move that will raise taxes
Teacher pay will increase again in Fort Mill. That move by itself doesn’t require a tax increase, but a separate decision made Wednesday will.
The Fort Mill School District board voted Wednesday to add contract days for special education teacher training, more preschool intervention for students in need and maintenance positions. The cost of more than $400,000 will come from a one mill tax rate increase and a transfer from contingency funds.
A one mill increase raises more than $300,000 for the district.
“Even though it is only one mill, it is a tax increase,” said board Chairwoman Kristy Spears. “But it is specifically a tax increase not on houses. Not on primary residences.”
Businesses will pay the tax increase from Wednesday’s decision. So will rentals and property tax on cars and boats. Someone with a $30,000 vehicle would pay less than $5 more per year. Businesses would pay varying amounts based on their properties.
Board members say there were considerable funding challenges this year that make the increase necessary if they want to fund needs. Additional work with 4K students and training that could help in the high turnover area of special education instruction can have lasting impact for students and staff, board members said.
“Our primary focus should be, what can we do to improve the school district?” said board member Scott Frattaroli. “What is within our authority to get the needs for our students? This is our authority of what we are able to do to serve our students, to serve our staff, to serve our families. This is it.”
Board member Celia McCarter pointed to a state increase on the district share of employee health insurance from its typical 3% a year to 18% this year. That cost the district $1.2 million. Fort Mill also doesn’t get the same state funding other areas do, based on demographics.
“This is the only funding mechanism that we have at our discretion to make a difference in education for Fort Mill students,” board member Michele Branning said of the tax increase. “I think that it is worth the trade-off.”
Teacher pay increase
The tax decision came right after the board approved yet another pay increase for teachers.
“Any day we can increase the pay for our teachers is a great day,” said board member Wayne Bouldin.
In June the board approved $2,000 increases in annual teacher pay. New state funding, updated estimates from the June tax reports in York County, interest on investment allocations and more combined with contingency money will allow another $300 per teacher.
Those increases would bring the starting teacher salary to $43,700, highest among nearby districts, according to Leanne Lordo, assistant superintendent and district CFO.
That distinction is significant.
“We’re recruiting from all over the country now,” said superintendent Chuck Epps. “And you don’t know much about Fort Mill or Clover or York. So when you look at that and you add the $300 and you put us back at No. 1 in the region, you get their attention right off the bat. It’s a recruitment issue for us.”
A new state requirement that districts start at $40,000 or more means state money was provided to districts that weren’t at that level. Fort Mill didn’t get that additional money.
“The gap is going to become smaller and smaller across districts as far as teacher pay, which is going to make it even harder to recruit new teachers from out of state who really don’t know that much about South Carolina and specifically our area,” Lordo said.
McCarter said increased teacher pay statewide is both a positive step and a challenge.
“I’m incredibly encouraged that it looks like our surrounding districts are able and putting more money into paying teachers,” McCarter said. “We have learned and we know how important and valuable teachers are, and how hard they work. And I believe we need to, as a culture and as a society, start emphasizing that better by paying them that way.”
Yet, she said, pay increases prove a challenge in Fort Mill if the district wants to remain on top.
“We need to pay the best, recruit the best and keep the best,” McCarter said.
In Fort Mill, it’s the constant need for more teachers that makes higher pay difficult. The district typically needs to add double-digit new positions a year, and often has considerable increases with the opening of a new school. Already there’s preliminary work toward opening a new elementary and middle school.
“We are certainly still challenged with the fact that we are the fastest growing district in South Carolina,” Lordo said. “We are having to still hire probably, proportionately, the highest number of new teachers a year to accommodate our growth and our state funding is not at the same level as some of our surrounding districts.”
All this is happening while Fort Mill and other districts face a dwindling pool of candidate teachers.
“What we have seen happening in the education field across the state and the nation, as far as teacher recruitment and retention, this has become a vital consideration in maintaining our teacher salaries at the highest level that we can fund,” Lordo said.
The latest $300 increase for teachers comes without its own tax hike. Board members say they’d like to pay teachers more, but have to balance that desire with funding limitations.
“To me it’s a balance because it’s not only our staff,” Epps said. “It’s also the public and the tax money.”
This story was originally published July 21, 2022 at 2:55 PM.
