Williamsburg-James City County Schools is mulling raises for most staff after a recent study found it trails many nearby divisions.
Bringing the division’s pay in-line with competitors will cost more than $7.6 million and the School Board is weighing if and how quickly it can be done.
The board meets for another budget work session on Tuesday.
The study, conducted by the consulting firm Bolton, found that base non-teacher pay lagged behind the market by more than 13% and fewer than a third of those employees fell in the competitive range. Teacher pay ranged 2.7% to 8.4% behind.
The analysis compared WJCC to seven local governments and six school divisions. The division ranked fourth out of six next to neighboring school divisions in entry level pay for teachers with bachelor’s degrees. It was fifth for teachers with master’s degrees.
In addition to creating a consistent and more competitive schema for teacher raises, Bolton’s study recommends combining administrative and educational support pay ranges into one structure.
Administration in January said the relatively lower pay is one of several reasons staff leave their jobs. One hundred seventy-two WJCC instructional staff members left in the 2023-2024 school year and 134 left in 2024-2025. Since September, resignations and retirements have outpaced hiring by three positions.
“This amount of turnover makes it challenging to maintain a culture of excellence,” said Tim Baker, senior director of human resources.
The School Board in January approved $3 per hour raises for bus drivers for similar reasons. Administration said the division was short 37 drivers in January. The increase brings WJCC from last to second among its neighboring divisions. Board Member Andrea Donnor said that could help boost teacher and teacher assistant satisfaction with their jobs as well.
“We’ve heard a lot from the teachers about having to wait for the late buses, kids getting to school late, which then throws off their lesson time,” she said.
WJCC administration floated phasing in the staff raises over three years, amounting to $2.5 million in the first phase. The approach would also hold down the extra funds the division would request from Williamsburg and James City County as it tries to address other needs.
A preliminary budget summary for the upcoming year, minus an estimated $2.4 million in state dollars, would need the localities splitting $13 million in funding.
“If you wait to implement parts of it, it’s going to cost more money than it will do today,” said Olwen Herron, recently retired division superintendent. “You’ll have to go back and get another analysis done to bring it up to speed each year.”
Williamsburg paid more than $11 million and James City County more than $96 million in fiscal year 2025. That was up $5.5 million from the previous year and included a 4.5% raise for all staff.
School Board Chair Sarah Ortego in January expressed concern that phasing in the raises over years leaves open the possibility of a future board changing priorities and halting the Bolton recommendations. Board Member Randy Riffle said the additional ask to fund the raises in one year could lead to smaller funding requests in the next.
Andy Cason, high school English teacher and treasurer of the Williamsburg-James City Education Association, called on the board in January to “take bold action” and fully implement the salary bumps.
Marco Sardi, middle school music teacher and WJCEA president, is hoping the localities will fully fund the raises. An association survey that reached 10% of its members indicated three quarters supported Bolton’s findings.
Sardi said the need has “likely been brewing for close to 10 years.”
“This is my fourth year here,” he said, “it’s been a conversation every year.”
Sardi acknowledged the price tag may exceed what WJCC’s funding localities are prepared to pay. To him, it comes down to a matter of priorities.
“Do you value education in your community? If the answer is yes, they will fully fund whatever is presented as the School Board’s plan to get us where we need to be,” Sardi said. “If the answer is no, then they won’t.”
A note of transparency, WJCC Schools is a member of HRETA, which owns WHRO’s broadcast license. Olwen Herron serves on WHRO’s board of directors.
