Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools will likely not get all of the $4.5 million they have asked for to increase teacher salaries in the district.

Both Chair of the Board of Orange County Commissioners Earl McKee and commissioner Mark Dorosin echoed these sentiments in a joint meeting Tuesday night.

“As commissioner Dorosin mentioned, full request probably not going to be accommodated,” McKee said. “But I know we’re going to make every effort to do everything we can, just as you all make every effort to do everything you can.”

While no decision has been officially made, comments made by the commissioners were not good news for the Board of Education, which has already committed to a total of $4.5 million to increase teacher pay.

No matter what the outcome of the budget, CHCCS is obligated to pay that money.

“The most important thing we can do is make sure we’ve got the highest quality teachers in every single classroom,” chair of the CHCCS Board of Education James Barrett said. “It’s what’s going to make a difference in the achievement gap and everything we do.”

The rush to raise the teacher supplement was due in part to Wake County raising their supplement last year.

Wake already had a higher supplement than CHCCS, but assistant superintendent Todd LoFrese said the gap in wages between the two counties would make it even harder for the district to keep and attract quality teachers.

“These are real dollars,” he said. “A teacher earning what we’re able to offer teachers this year ranges somewhere between $1,400 to $2,500 less than what Wake County currently offers teachers.”

While commissioners said they were sympathetic and wanted to commit to raising teacher pay, McKee said there were concerns about raising taxes.

“In the back of my mind I have to play out the possibility of a four to five cent tax increase this year, with the sure and certain knowledge that a bond in November and borrowing part of that funding will drive another three to five cents.”

McKee said the increase would be over a longer period of time, but it also doesn’t factor any other increase in the county funding.

“I know you hear from people that say ‘raise my taxes because I want my kids to have the best education,'” commissioner Renee Price said. “But I’m also hearing people say ‘this is hurting me, I can’t do it and if you raise taxes more I’m going to leave the county.”

If CHCCS doesn’t get the amount they’re looking for, they will have to make up the difference in budget cuts.

Barrett said the board will not comment publicly about specific cuts at this time because he said he doesn’t want to alarm any employees.

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