MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Members of the Monongalia County Board of Education have shared their goals for the next legislative session with local state lawmakers, in which board members are concerned about the possible consolidation of school boards and funding addressing retention and staffing issues that emerged during the coronavirus pandemic.
The school district has used coronavirus relief funding to hire two counselors and full-time nurses for all institutions. The district has also added interventionists to help students with learning deficits and transition specialists to assist students with meeting the challenges of moving to the next grade. The school system estimates the additional staff will cost the district an additional $5 million annually.
Superintendent Eddie Campbell said he does not expect state lawmakers to bridge the total funding gap, but to consider each need differently.
“If the state feels having social workers or guidance counselors is important, they might need to start planning for what to do and how to backfill some of these positions especially if mental health has become an issue,” he said. “If we’re addressing it through people and we take those people away that’s certainly going to be a disservice.”
Campbell said teacher’s aides are especially valuable, but the school system is unable to fill available positions. An estimated cost of adding enough teachers aids statewide would be about $70 million.
Salaries are also an issue; Campbell believes incremental increases earned by teachers do not keep pay levels competitive with neighboring states.
“The average teacher salary in West Virginia continues to drop to the point where I think we’re about 48th of the 50 states,” he said.
Delegate John Williams, D-Monongalia, told MetroNews affiliate WAJR-AM that legislators need to focus on keeping teachers in West Virginia.
“We need to realize that you get what you pay for,” he said. “If we want to have good teachers remaining in the classroom we need to pay them a good wage to keep them here.”
Service personnel is another where the district struggles to get and retain qualified workers; these workers range from HVAC technicians, diesel mechanics and carpenters. Campbell said the base pay gap with the private sector is as much as $20,000.
“Even though the benefits are better, when you’re talking about guys living paycheck-to-paycheck, you can’t cut $15,000 to $20,000 out of take-home pay and make up for it with the benefits piece of it,” he said.
The West Virginia Legislature will begin its regular session on Jan. 12.