Divided School Board Approves Pay Bonus, Hourly Salary Increase

The Oconee County Board of Education is scheduled to hold is second and final public hearing on June 7 on its proposed $86.7 million Fiscal Year 2022 budget that leaves unchanged the existing property tax millage rate and increases spending per student by $333.

The budget includes a $1,250 one-time bonus paid to each of the system’s more than 1,000 employees plus an additional increase of $1 per hour for custodial staff, bus drivers, and school nutrition workers.

The bonus and hourly salary increase were not part of the budget submitted to the Board by Superintendent Jason Branch on May 3 but were added by the Board at its meeting on May 10.

In a very rare display of disagreement at the May 10 meeting, the Board voted down a proposal by member Kim Argo to make the across-the-board salary increase permanent and passed her proposal to increase the hourly wages of bus drivers, custodians, and school cafeteria workers in a split vote.

The budget goes before the Board for final vote on June 14, following the second public hearing at 5:30 p.m. on June 7 at the Board Meeting Room at the Superintendent’s Office, 34 School Street in Watkinsville.

At the first public hearing on the budget on May 18, John Phillips asked a series of questions about the budget, but the Board did not respond to any of them.

For more on this story, with video of the May 3 and May 10 Board of Education Meetings, please go to Oconee County Observations.