CORRECTION: The teachers affected by this pay freeze also included those with a Masters degree. This article has been edited to reflect this change. A notice will be placed in the Friday, Aug. 22 Chronicle issue as well. The Chronicle regrets this error.
Fifty-nine teachers in the Cumberland County School system will have their pay frozen where it currently sits.
The affected teachers’ pay will not increase or decrease due to this freeze.
All of those teachers received a letter from the Cumberland County School district about the halt in their earnings. The teachers who received this letter either hold a Masters, Ed.S and/or a doctorate degree.
The letter from the school district states: “Cumberland County Schools is in the process of moving all certified staff to one pay scale and balancing the pay scales both vertically and horizontally. The goal is consistency between the steps and years of service.
“Currently, some steps reflect a substantial raise while others are minimal. During this process some employees will be frozen where they are currently on the scale, meaning salaries will remain the same during that school year. No employee will make less than they did the prior year.
“This will most likely be a two-to-three-year process based on funding and state salary minimums. The inequity in the scale did not happen overnight and it will take time to make all the corrections. We appreciate your understanding while this process is ongoing.”
Director of School Rebecca Farley explained during the August work session that there were 21 teachers affected at the Central office, 26 in elementary school and 12 in high school.
Farley said Chief Operating Officer Kim Bray, 9-12 Curriculum and Instruction Supervisor Kelly Smith and PreK-8 Curriculum and Instruction Supervisor Stephanie Speich met with each teacher to deliver the letters and answer all of the teachers’ questions.
Farley said as of Aug. 14, 58 of the 59 teachers were notified.
“I think most of the folks I talked to … were they happy? No, but they understand, and most of them said that they felt like going forward, that it will be in everyone’s best interests,” said Bray.
Scott VanWinkle, 2nd District, asked Farley if the information communicated with the teachers included that the pay scales would not be frozen at 25 years of service but rather at 30 years. He said they did this to encourage those to stay in the county longer because “eventually when everything gets balanced out, they’re going to be better off in the long run.”
In the 2024-’25 budget season, the Cumberland County Board of Education determined to mend the pay scales. Its goal was to put all of the teachers on one balanced pay scale. The board determined that in order to fix the pay scales, they would need to freeze some of the teacher’s pay.
Reported in a Crossville Chronicle article in April, the board’s goal is to minimize the gap to work toward an even projection for the school district’s future. By eliminating the gap, the board will spend a consistent amount of money when giving pay raises each time the scale takes a step.
VanWinkle suggested the pay freeze during the April budget work session stating that the freeze would allow the board to switch to a new pay scale.
VanWinkle drew up several graphs and projections to propose a balanced pay scale to the board in April. In those projections, VanWinkle stated in the April 2025 budget work session that it would take approximately six years to fix the balloon in the middle of the scale.
“If you want a balanced scale, you have to take those higher areas and start freezing them and bringing them in,” said VanWinkle in the April budget work session.
The board voted to move the administration to the balanced scale in a special-called meeting in April during budget discussions.
Nicholas Davis, 5th District, and Shannon Stout, 9th District, were both absent from the August work session.
The Cumberland County Board of Education is scheduled to meet Aug. 21 at 6 p.m. in the Central Services building at 368 Fourth St. in Crossville.