Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Dr. Shawn Joseph said he’s requesting more than $24 million to provide 2 percent raises to Metro school employees.
Joseph made the announcement Wednesday during his annual State of Schools address. Citing the rising cost of living in Nashville, he said teacher pay must be a priority for the budget.
"Salaries are the single most expensive piece of our budget" Joseph said, adding that increases will "take time.”
Dr. Joseph wants to increase the amount of money they send to specific schools. 47% of students in metro schools are economically disadvantaged. He feels this is not accurate... lost state funding because of it. @NC5#stateofschools#StateofMNPS
— Alexandra Koehn (@NC5_AKoehn) March 28, 2018
Although Joseph discussed the budget for the 2018-2019 school year, he did not mention any restructuring that could result in job cuts.
However, in a budget draft obtained by NewsChannel 5, some 35 Metro Schools positions -- including truancy officers and social workers -- would be eliminated beginning in July. Altogether, Joseph's budget eliminates 6.5 positions and shifts funding for three others for a total savings of $261,000.
There are 29 positions proposed to be added, but people in the cut positions would have to apply for the new jobs. Read the full story from investigative reporter Phil Williams here.
