"On March 6, the Charlottesville School Board and Superintendent Dr. William Symons presented the School Board's FY2000-2001 budget to City Council.

With the help of an additional $1.34 million allocated to the Schools by the City, the Board is increasing teacher salaries by an average of 6%, with the greatest increases targeted to beginning teacher salaries in order to make the District more competitive for recruiting top quality new teachers in coming years.

The Board also announced a significant increase in Custodial salaries to achieve an $8 per hour wage for all custodial employees. Queried about whether any full time employees of the Schools will earn less than $8 per hour following this increase, Dr. Symons said that all full-time school employees will earn the $8 Living Wage following this year's increase.

Congratulations to the Charlottesville School Board for adopting the Living Wage policy for all full-time school employees!"

Meredith Richards (electronic mail, March 24, 2000).