CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Horry County teachers may get twice as much of a raise as they got last year.
As Horry County Schools prepares next year’s $683 million budget, the district is focusing on raises for its employees, especially teachers.
“You have to recognize your teachers and you have to pay them,” said HCS board chair Ken Richardson. “You’ve got to pay good to get good.”
The proposed budget calls for all employees to get a two percent raise. Teachers would get an additional four percent, making it a total raise of six percent. That’s twice as much as the three percent raise HCS teachers got last year.
The higher raises come from help by the state.
“We’re fortunate enough that the state is stepping in and saying they’re going to give 4% is what they’re talking about now,” Richardson said. “Of course, we’re going to come up with 2% of that.”
HCS says the four percent teacher raise would cost $8,465,892. The two percent raise for all employees would cost the district $5,908,742. All together, HCS would spend $14,374,634 on raises next school year.
Richardson says the district and state lawmakers were planning out the raises well before last Wednesday’s teacher rally.
“There’s a lot of our local representatives that worked very hard on this and I think I’ve talked to pretty much everyone of them,” Richardson said. “They care about the teachers too. A lot of this was decided before they went to Columbia last week.”
HCS employees would also get a 1.85% increase to their retirement benefits, which will cost the district $3,777,906. The budget also includes $1,719,613 for new staff, as HCS is projected to grow by 397 students next year.
A public hearing and vote on the budget are scheduled for June 3.
