Oxford School District raised employee salaries beginning this year. The district has also begun planning ways to offer cheaper childcare and housing for employees.
OSD improved their supplement that adds onto the state pay scale to make the staff’s wage more liveable. The district gave teachers a minimum of $1,000 raise to their yearly salary.
“We are always grateful that our district is showing their appreciation of their teachers and doing the best they can to increase our district’s supplement,” Oxford High School Spanish teacher, James Jimenez, said.
In addition to the raise, the district is also increasing the amount teachers can earn for being national board certified. The district offers a partial match of what the state pays for certified teachers.
“In the previous year, it was $3,000 in addition, and they increased that partial match to $4,000 this most recent year,” Jimenez said.
These increases in pay will allow teachers to live a bit more comfortably. The district wants to show their staff that they are appreciated.
“The most important part of any organization when you are a leader is the people within the organization,” Superintendent Bradley Roberson said. “You really have to work to make sure you are taking care of the people.”
This will also create a competitive edge for the school district. The hope is to encourage well-qualified teachers to come work for Oxford School District.
“Teachers are going to want to go to a school district that is able to potentially pay more than another one, so Oxford wants to stay competitive and get the best teachers by offering the highest salary they can,” Jimenez said.
The district is making other efforts to help their staff thrive in Oxford as well. One problem the school district’s leadership team is trying to solve is housing.
“We have a lot of new teachers in the Oxford School District due to our partnership with the University of Mississippi,” Roberson said. “A lot of times, it is difficult for them to be able to find housing because first year teacher salaries are not the best.”
Oxford can be a difficult place to move to as a teacher due to the steep rates houses and apartments require for rent. With Oxford being home to the University of Mississippi and so many students and families from around the country, the cost of living has only increased in recent years.
“Being able to live in Oxford on a teacher’s salary is hard to do,” math teacher, Anna Freeman, said. “Even Ole Miss has trouble getting teachers or instructors because you cannot afford to live in Oxford, Miss. and get that kind of salary. We have all these great teachers coming out of the university, but there is nowhere to live.”
Roberson and his leadership team have been in discussions about building an apartment or housing complex that offers lower rent than what is typically offered. This would alleviate much of the stress teachers experience when attempting to find housing.
“I think it will draw teachers in and give them the opportunity and the possibility [to work in the district] because when you see housing prices in Oxford, it does not matter how much the school offers you; it is a lot,” Freeman said. “It would definitely open up opportunities for them to recruit a little bit more and for people who live here to be a little more comfortable than they probably are right now.”
The other issue Oxford School District is attempting to tackle is childcare for children ages 0 to 2 years old. Teachers who work all day can struggle to find affordable childcare for their younger children.
“Right now, the district does offer a slight discount for aftercare, which is the service provided by the school district at the local schools for after the school day gets out,” Jimenez said. “They have aftercare for kids who cannot get picked up at 2:30 p.m., so the discounted rate is a start.”
Roberson is looking into partnering with the YMCA to provide daycare and early education for ages 0 to 2 for the Oxford community.
“One of the priorities for the construction of that site would be the families of the Oxford School District that needed childcare at a very reasonable rate; much more reasonable than someone in the local community that is trying to generate income and revenue,” Roberson said.
Providing discounted childcare will better accommodate teachers with families. Since teaching is a full time job, teachers need to ensure that their kids can be taken care of during the day. The district is attempting to provide this at an affordable rate.
“You want to be able to make working here convenient and easy, and that starts with hopefully being able to offer affordable housing and then potentially maybe also some form of affordable child care,” Jimenez said.
Both of these services are in the planning stages. Roberson hopes it will be a two to three year project, at most.
“I think a lot of it comes down to local businesses, specifically housing companies or these big housing condo developments partnering with the school district,” Jimenez said. “A lot will come down to whether or not those housing companies want to do that and are willing to continue to support the great school systems we have here.”
OSD leaders aim to serve as much of the staff of the district as possible with the new services and raises.
“We do recognize that the need for housing and childcare extends beyond just our classroom teachers,” Roberson said. “We want to be able to support as many of our staff members as possible.”
The goal of these new services and raises is to help Oxford School District’s staff in handling some of the problems they face.
“You have to take care of the people,” Roberson said. “That has always been very important to me. One of the ways that you take care of the people is to make sure, first, they are compensated appropriately, but at the same time that you can offer services that will help the betterment of their life, whether that is child care,whether that is housing and so on and so forth.”
