The Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board is including a higher minimum wage for school employees in its 2015/16 budget request to Orange County.

The proposed budget would set a wage floor for CHCCS employees of $12.76 per hour, which is the current minimum wage for Orange County government employees.

Board member James Barrett wants to do more than include minimum wage in the budget.

“Are we going to bring living wage back as a separate policy?” Barrett asked at Thursday’s board meeting. “There are dollars in the budget, but is that going to be a policy discussion as well?”

Barrett said creating a living wage policy would ensure that future boards consider this topic as they discuss budgets. He said the policy could incorporate inflation into the minimum wage calculation.

Board Chair Mike Kelley said that the board could discuss that in the future, but no date has been set for this policy discussion.

Kelley also brought up something commissioners are considering in county living wage policy.

“Contractors: How do you handle them? Can you require them to pay a living wage? Can you favor them in some way? So I agree, there are policy decisions to be made,” said Kelley.

The board approved the budget request 6-1, with James Barrett dissenting, in part because the budget asks the county to pay for additional charter school students. He said this is not a strategic move because the commissioners have to divide money between the two school districts, and the Orange County Schools’ charter school population is underrepresented.

The school board will now submit the budget to the Orange County Board of Commissioners. And on April 28 the CHCCS Board and the Orange County Schools Board will each present budget requests to the commissioners.

 

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