CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Some Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district teacher assistants in classrooms all day are making about $3 less an hour than school bus drivers.
This week, CMS officials announced a raise for bus drivers after Channel 9 reported there was a shortage of drivers, which caused students to be late going to and from school.
[CMS raises starting pay for district bus drivers to $15 an hour]
Now, the starting pay for a bus driver is $15 an hour.
The starting wage for CMS teacher assistants is $12.13 an hour.
The state raised the minimum rate to $15 for all state employees who are paid hourly, but school district hourly employees were excluded, according to CMS officials.
"I am very glad the district found a solution that hopefully will work,” CMS board member Elyse Dashew said about the bus driver raise. She recognizes the frustration from other employees.
"Our teacher assistants are so valuable,” Dashew said. “The work they do is so valuable, and I would love for us to be able to find the money to pay them better as well."
She told Channel 9 she'd discuss the issue at future budget talks.
“The next steps, as we build the next budget, would be, either go to the county or go to the state, or sometimes we can find the money internally,” Dashew said. “But that has to come from somewhere. So, for example, with the bus drivers, it came from cutting positions.”
The money for bus drivers came from within the transportation budget by cutting other unfilled but funded positions.
Dashew said she’d look into it but doesn’t know if they have that same opportunity to increase teacher assistant pay. She says she hopes the state legislature will help fund an increase for them in the future.
Cox Media Group
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