The Wake County Public Schools Board of Education on Tuesday night approved salary increases for employees across the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) for the 2024-2025 school year.
The school board approved a 4 percent increase to Wake County teachers’ local salary supplement and a new $20 minimum wage for bus drivers. The lowest-paid workers in the school system will now make at least $17.75 per hour, up from $17 last year.
In June, the Wake County Board of Commissioners approved a $58.3 million budget increase for the school board as part of its FY 2025 budget process, bringing the school board’s operating budget to $702.6 million.
The 4 percent increase to the teachers’ supplement that the board approved last night comes in addition to a 3 percent pay raise for all state employees (including teachers) that the state legislature authorized in July.
The state sets and pays out base rates for certified staff—including teachers, guidance counselors, and social workers—in all of the state’s public school districts, including Wake County Schools. In addition, certified workers receive local supplements. The state also has salary schedules for “classified” staff, including custodians, technicians, receptionists, accountants, and bus drivers, who also receive local supplements. In WCPSS, both certified and classified staff receive incremental pay increases for additional years of experience.
This year, a new WCPSS teacher with a bachelor’s degree will earn $48,339.90 per year, paid out over 10 months. That’s $4,833.99 a month—$4,100 from the state plus a local supplement of $733.99.
That amounts to about a $2,200 annual pay increase from last year, when the same teacher would have made $46,057.60.
Teachers with more years of experience, advanced degrees, and/or national board certification receive higher base salaries, and their county-funded supplement is also higher. The complete 2024-2025 salary schedule for Wake schools employees is available here.
Wake County has a shortage of over 300 bus drivers, WRAL reported in April. At the August 6 school board meeting, WCPSS chief business officer David Neter said the new, higher minimum wage should help attract new bus drivers.
“This $20 an hour, we hope, continues to chip away at the challenge that we face here locally, across the state, and across the country, in our need to recruit and retain these important staff,” Neter said.
Last year, Wake County school bus drivers earned a minimum of $18.55 per hour.
Board member Lindsay Mahaffey expressed excitement over the pay increases, but tempered it with a reminder that many WCPSS employees only get paid ten months a year, and some still make below $40,000 annually.
“It’s amazing that we’re able to get our employees up to $17.75 an hour for a minimum, for our lowest-paid workers, and our bus drivers up to $20 an hour,” Mahaffey said. “And while we celebrate this, I also want to acknowledge that most of these folks are 10-month employees, and so for a 10-month driver, it takes 13 years under this salary schedule for them to get to $40,000 a year, and 22 years for our lowest-paid employee to get to $40,000 a year.
“So just as we celebrate these things, it’s important to keep in mind that most of these folks are 10-month employees, and the state does not allow them to cast their salary over the 12 months, so they’re really having to have a tight budget over the summer.”
The salary increases are retroactive to July 1 and will be reflected in WCPSS employees’ August paychecks.
Reach Reporter Chloe Courtney Bohl at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].