NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Norfolk Public Schools teachers and staff are in line to receive a raise for the next school year after the School Board approved a $672 million operating budget for fiscal 2024-2025.
By a 5-2 vote, the School Board approved the operating budget, which now heads to City Council.
Council is set to adopt a municipal budget in May, which includes the operating budget for Norfolk Public Schools.
The NPS fiscal 2024-2025 budget includes an average 8.04% pay raise for teachers, 8.34% for classified staff and 5.94% for administrators.
And there’s more.
In an effort to recruit more educators, the starting pay for teachers is going up from $53,000 per year to $57,000 per year — and there’s also a $3,000 retention bonus for eligible employees. Heath care costs will not go up.
Superintendent Dr. Sharon I. Byrdsong’s budget focused on five priorities — employee compensation, employee recruitment and retention, right-sizing the school division, safety, security and building maintenance/repairs and instructional and social-emotional learning resources for students.
Among the other highlights in the budget:
- Money to support the academic and social-emotional learning needs of students students with disabilities;
- Establishing Equity and Excellence Learning Centers in four schools: P.B. Young Elementary, Jacox Elementary, the Ruffner (3-8) School, and Booker T. Washington High School. Their purpose is to “provide wraparound services such as mental health services, social-emotional learning supports, access to medical resources and family engagement offerings.”
- Money to support a feasibility study to look into transforming Lake Taylor High School into a public charter school for comprehensive career and technical education.
- Money to set up a welcome center for English learners and their families at the Rosemont facility, and expanding translation and other contracted services.
- The return of two school facilities — the Madison Alternative Education Center and the Coronado School — to Norfolk as a first step toward what it says is right-sizing the school division
- More staff and resources to address mental health and social-emotional needs of students.
- See a copy of the proposed budget below: