Our Kids Can’t Wait: Fund Our Schools Now
Asheville City Schools Board of Education, Buncombe County Board of Education, and Buncombe County Commission
Public school staff in Asheville City and Buncombe County Schools are in an impossible situation. We love our students, but a rapidly increasing cost of living and declining real wages have left many with no choice but to find employment elsewhere. The resulting staffing shortage has reached a critical level. Already, remaining staff are stretched to the breaking point, and too many students are not receiving the quality services they deserve.
Unless dramatic action is taken now, this crisis will only worsen. But our students can’t afford to lose one more school staffer. Fortunately, the ACS and BCS Boards of Education and the Buncombe County Commission can act now to make sure our schools can recruit and retain the dedicated staff our students deserve.
Read the petition below and complete the form to sign.
Sponsored by
To:
Asheville City Schools Board of Education, Buncombe County Board of Education, and Buncombe County Commission
From:
[Your Name]
We—ACS and BCS staff, students, parents, and supporters—are calling on the ACS and BCS Boards of Education and the Buncombe County Commission to work together to create and fund a budget that prioritizes the staff recruitment and retention crucial to addressing student needs.
- For certified staff:
• Increase take home pay for certified staff by 7% in every category.
- For classified staff:
• Raise classified staff pay to a minimum of $19.60/hr—the 2023 living wage for Buncombe County*—or a 20% raise, whichever is greater for each staffer.
• Acquire and maintain Just Economics Living Wage Employer certification, and commit to providing an annual cost of living adjustment for classified staff.
• Address pay compression in the classified staff salary schedule by providing a step increase of at least 2% of overall wages every year of service.
- Commit to using permanent local funds to continue funding all positions currently funded through temporary federal COVID relief funds or temporary state monies
- In order to ensure that students can access needed supports in a timely manner, establish an Exceptional Children and Student Support Advisory Committee. The committee, composed of certified and classified staff working with exceptional students and in intervention and student services roles, will identify staffing issues, policy hurdles, and other barriers to securing the supports that students need to learn and thrive and will develop and propose solutions to these issues.
We deserve a budget that is pro-students, pro-public school staff, and pro-public schools. Our kids can’t wait and they don’t have to.
Asheville City and Buncombe County Associations of Educators
ACS and BCS Public School Staff
Parents and Community Supporters of ACS and BCS
*Source: MIT Living Wage Living Wage Calculator: https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/37021