Richland One Board Approves Third Reading of General Fund Budget; Starting Teacher Salary Increased to $50,100
At its July 9 meeting, the Richland One Board of School Commissioners unanimously approved the third reading of the district’s General Fund Budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
The $409.2 million budget includes raising Richland One’s starting teacher salary from $43,640 to $50,100 a year and increasing every cell on the teacher salary schedule by an average of 9 percent.
Other highlights of Richland One’s FY 2025 General Fund Budget include:
- An increase in the maximum teacher salary at step 31 for teachers with a doctorate degree, from $86,598 to $91,143
- An average 4.8 percent increase in pay with a step increase and a cost-of-living increase for eligible non-teachers
- An average pay increase of over 5.5 percent for school bus drivers – the 2.75 percent increase mandated by the state plus the 2.8 increase from the district for eligible non-teachers
“We are pleased to offer these well-deserved increases to our teachers and other staff as part of our ongoing employee recruitment and retention initiatives,” said Richland One Superintendent Dr. Craig Witherspoon. “Thank you to our Board members for their support and approval.”
The district will revisit other supplements as well as summer programming that was previously funded by ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) in closing out the 2023-2024 school year.
