GEORGETOWN COUNTY, SC- Georgetown County School District employees will get a 2% pay increase under a proposed budget presented to the school board last week. The cost would equate to $1.2 million in the budget, according to Superintendent Dr. Randy Dozier.
The district received an excellent rating on its most recent report card, which puts it with some of the best school districts in the state.
“In order to maintain and keep that, you’ve got to recruit quality teachers, retain them, develop them,” stated Dozier.
However, Dozier said they’re finding it difficult to convince teachers to stay. The starting salary is $4,000 less than nearby Horry County. He said they lost 50-100 teachers last year and about 15 of them admitted to crossing the county line.
Horry County School Principal Dr. Paul Browning said anytime there is at vacancy at Socastee High School, veteran Georgetown County teachers seem to be interested. He said they’ve hired 5 Georgetown County teachers in the last five years.
“The salary scale and the benefits are vastly superior to Georgetown County and it’s a big selling point,” said Browning.
Horry County is also looking at a 2% increase, according to Browning.
Dozier told News 13 he’d like to see Georgetown County increase employee salary by more than 2%, but that will take time.
“I really think it’s probably going to be a 3-4 year plan,” he said.
