SD45 - Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind Faculty Salary Recommendations


Executive Summary:
Senate Joint Resolution 476 requests the Department of Education and the Department of Planning and Budget to examine the teacher salary scales for the Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind. The Departments were to consider, among other things, salary scales for teachers in the Staunton and Hampton public schools. A study group of representatives from the Department of Education, including representatives from the Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind in Staunton and Hampton, the Department of Planning and Budget, and the Department of Personnel and Training, explored salary scale issues, including:

• Competitiveness of salary ranges with local school systems,
• Salary step advancements with each year of tenure,
• 190 versus 200 day teaching employment contracts,
• Salary inequities of senior tenured teachers versus newly hired teachers, and
• Contractual year salary versus salary tied to the state timeframe for annual raises.

The study group recommended that:

• VSDB-Staunton receive an across-the-board salary scale adjustment of 4% to allows all employees, even those at the top of the scale, to realize the full 4% increase;

• VSDB-Hampton's salary scale not be adjusted as a measure to allow localities to "realign" to VSDB-Hampton's current faculty salary scale; however, VSDB-Hampton faculty employees should be granted a one step salary scale advancement (2.5% = bachelors / 2.4% = masters) for the 1999-2000 school year; and

• VSDB's request for budgetary adjustments to reflect a 200-day faculty contract be approved to provide for additional staff development time related to the SOL and improved instructional techniques.

The study findings and recommendations were presented to the Advisory Commission on the Virginia Schools for the Deaf and Blind on September 27, 1999.