Advocate urges board to convert local teacher supplement from percentage to fixed amount and raise pay to a living wage

Soren Pedersen, speaking during public comment Thursday, urged Buncombe County Board of Education members to make a meaningful increase in the district’s local teacher pay supplement and to change the supplement from a percentage to a flat dollar amount.

Pedersen presented a multi‑year comparison showing the gap between starting teacher pay and a calculated living wage. He said a decade ago starting teachers earned roughly $11,000 above the living-wage measure; today, starting teachers are about $8,000 below a living wage using the HUD universal living wage formula he cited. He also recapped the 2021 budget episode when the board proposed increases that county commissioners did not adopt amid pandemic revenue concerns.

Nut graf: Pedersen asked the board to consider structural change (fixed-dollar local supplement) so annual state salary schedule changes do not erode local support and to make up for years in which teacher pay lagged behind local cost increases.

He asked the board not for an exact number at this meeting but for the policy shift and a commitment to factor in past undercompensation when setting next year’s recommendation to the county commission. Pedersen said the last publicly known starting teacher pay discussed was about $38,000–$45,000 in recent years while the living wage figure he cited had risen to roughly $55,500; he said exact state schedule numbers for the coming year were not yet available.

Ending: Pedersen asked the board to consider both a conversion to a dollar‑based supplement and additional adjustments to address the multi‑year decline in teacher purchasing power.