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Virginia Beach City Public Schools grants employees bonus, some teachers get higher stipend

Full-time employees will get a one-time, $1,000 bonus. Teachers providing both in-person and virtual instruction will get an increased stipend.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach City Public Schools leaders have approved a bonus for their employees as well as a bigger stipend for teachers.

This was a unanimous decision made by the school board in their Tuesday meeting.

The bonus and stipend were both recommendations made by Superintendent Dr. Aaron C. Spence.

All full-time employees will receive a one-time, $1,000 bonus in their Nov. 30 paychecks. There will also be an increased stipend to teachers who are teaching through both in-person and virtual means.

All Step 0 employees will get a 0.25% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). Employees on Steps 1-30 will get a 0.5% pay increase and employees above scale will receive a 0.5% COLA.

"One thing we all agree on is the outstanding effort of VBCPS staff during these past months to keep our students safe, fed and engaged in their learning," said Superintendent Dr. Aaron Spence. "We have a long way to go to compensate them for their remarkable work, but this is a start."

On March 3, 2020, the School Board approved a resolution to provide a 3.5% salary increase for employees, effective July 1, 2020. The raise was to be allocated as a 0.5% experience step increase for employees on steps 1-30, and a 3% COLA for all employees. Because of the pandemic and subsequent reduced funding from the state, the decision had to be made to eliminate the raise. 

CARES Act funding coupled with reversion funds has since enabled the division to provide some compensation enhancements.

"The intent of tonight's resolution is to offset the division's limited ability to provide salary increases this year and to assist employees with any hardships faced during this pandemic," explained School Board Chairwoman Carolyn Rye. "I am so gratified that we could make this happen for our hard-working staff."

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