BOONE SCHOOL BOARD RESCINDS SUPERINTENDENTS PAY RAISE FOLLOWING PROTEST

(02/25/2016)
The Boone County Board of Education has rescinded their approval of a pay raise for their superintendent, following a protest against the move.

A number of WV Schools are cutting back employees, particularly in coal field counties, where tax revenues are down and a 4% state cut to education.

A 100-person crowd at a Boone County school board meeting Tuesday, included many people with "We stand with the 77" T-shirts, referring to the approximate number of positions the county schools superintendent has recommended cutting.

Parents wearing the shirts publicly criticized the school system central office for allegedly being too bloated.

In a quick unanimous vote Tuesday evening with no discussion, Boone County's school board members rescinded raises they had promised their superintendent earlier this month, just as individual employees were learning whether they'd be affected by the school system's roughly 80 planned position cuts.

On Feb. 2, the board voted unanimously to grant superintendent John Hudson, who makes about $131,100 annually, a four-year contract extension with no pay increase for next school year but annual 3 percent pay increases for the three following years.

The raises would've equaled roughly $4,000 for each of those three years, meaning he'd be making around an extra $12,000 by the final year of his new contract.

Calhoun Schools superintendent Tim Woodward is among the lowest paid in the Mountain State, but is set to receive a $9,000 increases by the end of his new three year contract.