BY ANDREW FAISON/CONTRIBUTING WRITER

andrew.faison@tidewaternews.com

 

FRANKLIN—The Franklin City Public School employees could see a 2 percent raise next school year. It would their first in four years.

“I would like to see a raise to all school employees,” Franklin Superintendent Dr. Michelle Belle said during a Wednesday school board work session for the 2013-14 budget.

“Everyone deserves it since they have not had a raise in so long,” Bell said.

Finance Supervisor Rachel Yates expects the raises to cost $197,000.

Under Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposed budget, Franklin schools would receive $158,441 to help pay for raises for teachers, principals, guidance counselors and librarians. The city would have to provide $38,000, Yates said.

“We don’t know where the funds will come from,” Yates said. “We just know it is an added expense.”

A first-year teacher is paid $37,800 annually.

Using the current year’s costs, the district is looking at a preliminary budget with a $600,000 surplus.

“Nothing is set in stone yet,” Belle said. “We still have to wait. On March 31, that is our big day to know what figures we will be looking at as far as student numbers on which to base our exact funding.”

The school system will ask the city for $5.6 million up from the $5 million it received for the 2012-2013 school year.

“The reason the number is higher is because we are receiving a rollover of unused funds from last year,” Yates said.

School officials also are considering replacing phone systems in its three schools, buying a school bus and replacing roofs at J.P. King Middle and Franklin High schools.

“The roofs are a little much for our operating budget, so we will have to look at other methods of funding for those projects with the city,” Belle said.

A new roof at FHS is estimated to cost $628,000.

“If we don’t replace it before the warranty runs out, we could look at a bill of almost $2 million,” Yates said.

The school board will update its budget during a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, at City Hall.