Many school employees headed back to work without a pay raise

Students at public schools still have a few more days of summer vacation, but teachers are already hard at work. However, budget problems are making it difficult for schools to keep good teachers.

Many school employees in Hampton Roads are heading back to school this year for the second time without a pay raise. Harder economic times have dwindled education funds around the country.

Dominic Melito, President of Virginia Beach Education says, "That cripples the states ability to fund education, but then it's also because of the housing problems. It cripples the local's ability to fund education as well and that double whammy is causing quite a problem for education."


Teacher salaries in many Hampton Roads cities are below the national average. While Virginia Beach is Virginia's biggest city, it's ranked 33rd out of 132 school districts in the state for new teacher salaries. If you look at area salaries for teachers with 30 years experience, Virginia Beach, Isle of Wight, Suffolk, and Chesapeake all pay over $60,000 a year but teachers in James City County are closer to the bottom of the list at under $50,000.

Melito says, "If there are 132 school districts in the area, and you're ranked 123rd for 30-year teacher salaries, that's pretty challenging to keep teachers in that system."

Teachers aren't the only ones fighting for higher salaries. Most custodial positions and teacher assistants in Hampton Roads, with years of experience, get paid less than $20,00 a year.

Virginia ranks 7th in per capita income, meaning that they have the 7th highest ability to pay for education, but ranked 28th for salaries and 37th for overall funding for education.

While state school employees continue the fight to get the credit they feel public education deserves, many say it's not worth losing their job over.