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lack of serious-school discipline problems that Rappahannock has.
Rappahannock finances her schools from a small tax base. With little industry or commerce, there’s no alternative method of raising money except through taxes on the land. If school costs escalate dramatically, many county farms would be taxed out of existence, turned into five-acre lot subdivisions that produce more children and call for greater expenditures for education, even higher taxes and so on in a spiral that will destroy the character that makes Rappahannock unique.
On the other hand, teachers leave our school system in droves every year and replacements are getting increasingly hard to find. The high turnover rate affects the quality of education and is logically one of the factors in the failure of the elementary school’s reading program. Next year, when budget time rolls around, the School Board should think about the problems it’s had in filling school vacancies instead of leaning on that old law of supply and demand. Out of 121 school divisions in the state, only 15 failed to offer teachers some type of fringe benefit during 1977-78. School Boards in 107 divisions paid part or all of hospitalization premiums, 76 paid part or all of state group life insurance costs and others provided benefits ranging from income protection insurance to cancer insurance to local retirement plans. Of the divisions that gave no fringe benefits, starting salaries ranged from $10,094 to $8,250. Only four jurisdictions—Carroll, Charlotte, Halifax and Scott Counties—had starting salaries lower than Rappahannock s. Among counties that pay a flat fee for extra-curricular duties rather than a percentage of regular salary, only seven had a pay scale lower than Rappahannock’s. On the basis of minimum salary, Rappahannock ranked 109 out of 121 divisions in 1977-78.
Providing some fringe benefits, raising the extra-curricular pay scale and boosting salaries slightly won’t cause the school budget to skyrocket. These actions won't solve all of Rappahannock’s recruitment problems either but they couldn’t help but improve the outlook for attracting new teachers.
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