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CHARLESTON, W. Va.–School service personnel in West Virginia will soon see a bit more in their paychecks later this year.
Gov. Jim Justice signed SB 531 into law granting the average 5% pay raise school service personnel, teachers and other education positions like school counselors.
The new law also includes a $10,000 raise for state police troopers. All other state workers are receiving their average 5% raise through the new state budget that Justice previously signed into law.
School service personnel impacted include bus drivers, cooks, custodians, secretaries, and other support staff within the school system.
“It will help quite a bit. It’s not five percent, it’s an average and it comes to about $122 dollars a month. That would help our folks significantly,” said Joe White, executive director of the West Virginia School Service Personnel Association.
The average salary for service workers varies from county to county, but on the whole White said they don’t make a lot of money. In fact, it’s hard to live on a single salary in a service position.
“Your average salary in West Virginia is about $19 an hour. When you take our folks it’s about $13 to $16 an hour so it’s under the state average,” White explained in a conversation on MetroNews “Talkline.”
The low salary is causing widespread staffing problems throughout West Virginia. White indicated in some cases, students have been excused from school when there weren’t enough bus drivers to make the runs and get them to school. Despite the recent raise, White said there are great needs and filling those will take another substantial pay improvement.
“I think if we do the average, back to our request from a couple of years ago, I think if we could get another six-grand on the year, I think that would solve a lot of problems in the state of West Virginia for filling these positions. I know it sounds like a lot of money, but I don’t think it really is compared to the workforce,” he explained.
Gov. Jim Justice promised all state workers a pay raise during his State of the State Address back in January. The pay increases begin July.