Rockcastle County schools look forward to pay raises, variable school calendar for the upcoming school year

MT. VERNON, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — A recent Rockcastle County school board meeting led to a significant change in the form of a district-wide pay raise.

It’s a change impacting certified and classified employees of Rockcastle County Schools. A 4% raise equals 10% over the past four years, including a $2 per hour raise for classified staff. Superintendent Dr.Carrie Ballinger was happy to get the news and to know what it means for district staff.

“We really want to give thanks to our legislature. Without our increase and seek funding our increase in transportation and Tier one funding, we would not have been able to provide this raise for our staff, so we’re very thankful for the work that they did in the session and enabling us to be able to provide for our staff and to support both certified and classified staff,” Ballinger said.

The raise has employees like Director of Student Services Marcus Reppert looking forward to July 1, when it takes effect, further adding to a job he already loves.

“It was wonderful to hear the news of a 4% pay raise as an employee, and I appreciate the district so much for investing in our people. Our people are the most important asset in any organization. In our district, I think over the last four years that this is a 10% pay increase that we’ve seen. If you go back and look at the previous few years statewide, that’s just not been the case. There’s a lot of reasons for that, but I am thankful that now the state legislature has allocated the funds to allow us to give that raise,” Reppert said.

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That wasn’t the only big part of the board meeting, with a new variable school calendar, meaning fewer instructional days with the same pay. The district will have 162 instructional days, which will equal the 170-day calendar requirement, meaning 8 fewer days of reporting for staff.

“That is going to allow a better work-life balance for our staff, so we’re piloting that this year in the school district to see how that plays out. We’ll evaluate the data to see if this is something we want to continue,” Ballinger said.

Both changes are things district staff and leaders hope will lead to an even better future for the Rockets, saying this is just the beginning.

“I hope that that will continue in the future, that our state leaders will continue to invest in education so that we can continue to attract the best teachers, retain the best teachers because it’s a wonderful profession. It’s critical to the success of our communities,” Reppert said.

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