More than a thousand Durham Public Schools classified staff will receive an 11% pay raise after the
Board of Education approved the raises with a 5-2 vote Thursday night
.
“Some of this is life-changing money,” Board Chair Bettina Umstead said. “Any dollar increase is life-changing money for our educators. So, the decision doesn’t come lightly.”
The decision comes after nearly four hours of discussing the option, which they said is within the budget of Durham Public Schools.
“It’s important to acknowledge that the idea and the plan behind looking to achieve market competitive rates for classified staff in Durham Public Schools is visionary,” Interim Superintendent Catty Moore said. “It is important, it is long overdue. It is necessary. To acknowledge along with that … the study that gave us the really good data about what that would look like when it came time to implement — there were missteps in that implementation.”