The Charlottesville school board, education union, and City Council are searching for funds to fulfill a collective bargaining agreement for school support personnel. Leaders from the Charlottesville Education Association and Charlottesville City Schools reached an understanding on February 9, ahead of a joint session with city councilors and the district’s February 19 budget approval—but it didn’t come easy.
The proposed FY27 budget, totaling $129,631,641, comes in at roughly $4.3 million more than last year. Approximately 52 percent of the proposed expenditures come from salaries and wages. To cover the increase in spending, the school board will need almost $3 million in additional funds from City Council.
The February 9 discussion centered on the ratification of the agreement negotiated between the city and the CEA’s School Support Personnel bargaining arm, including a 10.5 percent raise. Tensions arose at a February 5 board meeting, when Superintendent Royal Gurley and CEA President Shannon Gillikin expressed frustration with the delayed ratification of the agreement and gave conflicting accounts about who was delaying the process.
An email signed by the school board, sent on February 6, indicated that the union’s failure to ratify the agreement would prevent the full raise from being included in the February 9 budget presentation to City Council.
“We have received confirmation this morning that the CEA does not intend to give its support professional unit members the opportunity to ratify the tentative agreement in time for the Board approval of next year’s budget on February 19,” reads an excerpt of the email. “Our legal counsel has advised that this failure to submit for ratification negates the agreement that was reached at the table. The Superintendent, therefore, will present a budget that includes a raise of 3% for support professionals, consistent with administrative staff (and 1% higher than the state-mandated raise of 2%.) … We were fully committed to passing a budget that included the 10.5% raise once we had the cooperation of the CEA. At this point the earliest a new contract can be considered is for the 2027-28 school year.”
Despite Gurley opening the February 9 meeting with an announcement that the CEA would vote on and bring an agreement to the school board ahead of its budget approval, community and board members alike voiced concerns with the language of the email.
“I’m uncomfortable with the language that’s being put out around this. I’m uncomfortable with the communication from our end, unfortunately,” said new school board member Zyahna Bryant. “I don’t want us to be saying deadlines are missed if we’re not clear about what those deadlines are.”
The 10.5 percent raise creates a $900,000 gap in the city’s allocation to the district. It’s far from the only funding hole the city is trying to close in its FY27 draft budget. Councilors expressed strong support for the agreement, but voiced concerns about finding the funds and reluctance to pursue any tax rate hikes to balance the budget.
Teaching and support staff alike argued that they needed raises during public comment, describing employees’ current financial strain.
“We have staff who can’t pay their phone bills, replace their cars, which were destroyed on school grounds while they were doing their jobs, or afford their health care premiums. I can’t do my job without them. I can’t teach students without their work,” said Esa Schenck, a sixth-grade math teacher at Walker Upper Elementary. “I urge the City Council to fully fund this budget. I know that you are still trying to find the money for a 10.5 percent raise. That’s a bare minimum for the people who allow our students to succeed. I’m a math teacher. I know that money comes from different pools, and I know that we can’t just swap things out for one another. But Dr. Gurley, I would like to remind you that last year, you received a raise which brought your salary to over $212,000.”
