Virginia teachers are pressing state lawmakers for a 3 percent salary increase, warning of a potential "brain drain" as veteran educators retire without enough young professionals to take their place.
Virginia Education Association President Kitty Boitnott said Wednesday that a 3 percent raise would cost the state about $110 million — in the first year that state revenues look healthy since 2008.
Many teachers "are working today for less money than they received three years ago, as a result of pay cuts, furloughs and health-insurance premium increases," Boitnott said.
Chesterfield County teachers saw their salaries cut by 2 percent this past year, but they later received a 2 percent, one-time bonus.
As such, "this 3 percent would only actually be a 1 percent increase for us," Chesterfield Education Association President Frank Cardella said at the news conference.
The school system, he said, has seen the highest retirement rate in its history, close to double the typical annual rate.
"We are losing faculty members at a scary rate at this point," he said.
VEA-provided figures show that Virginia teachers earn about $5,300 less than the national average.
Gov. Bob McDonnell will present his proposed budget amendments Dec. 17, and his office is mum on any potential changes to K-12 funding.
McDonnell spokeswoman Stacey Johnson said, "The final decision on what schoolteachers make is ultimately one made by local governments."
"While the state can help fund a pay increase, it is local governments that actually authorize it."
House Majority Leader-elect M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, teaches government in Chesterfield. He's also a House budget writer and noted that lawmakers tried to avoid cuts to K-12 while other areas saw reductions.
He said localities — seeing lackluster revenues this year — bear a bulk of the burden on pay raises.
omeola@timesdispatch.com
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