Roanoke County Public Schools wants teacher pay to remain competitive

ROANOKE COUNTY (WSLS 10) -  As schools talk about budgets, teacher raises and bonuses are also being considered.  Roanoke County Schools do not currently have teacher bonuses but it's not off the table.

"We are fortunate enough so far that this is a great district to be in. It is difficult finding quality teachers and it is something that we're discussing but we just haven't had the need to go there yet. It doesn't mean that we won't or won't look at those things, we just haven't yet," said Jim Bradshaw, Roanoke County Schools Director of Human Resources.

Roanoke County did a compensation study comparing salaries with nearby districts and careers outside of education. Bradshaw says they did a salary adjustment they feel is very competitive and in some cases ahead of other areas.

"Everybody wants to be paid well that's very important. You want to feel like your valued for what you do so we really look at that and try to make sure we're competitive. Our goal now is to do that every year to make sure we're staying competitive with everybody around us," said Bradshaw.

He says they've taken the stance of increasing everyone's pay instead of just giving incentives in hard to staff areas like Roanoke City is doing.

There are several job fairs coming up:

  • January 27: Western Virginia Public Education Consortium Job Fair. Pre-registration is required. Details are here.
  • February 18: Roanoke City Job Fair details are here. Pre-registration is required in order to attend.

About the Author:

You can see Jenna weekday mornings at the anchor desk on WSLS 10 Today from 5-7 a.m. She also leads our monthly Solutionaries Series, where we highlight the creative thinkers and doers working to make the world a better place.