SALISBURY — Teachers and coaches in Rowan-Salisbury Schools will get a supplement following a vote from the school board at its most recent meeting.

RSS Chief Resources Officer Carol Herndon recommended that the school board move forward with the 8-percent supplement increase for teachers effective next month. The coaches’ supplements are not a fixed percentage increase but are calculated on a sliding scale. They will take effect in November as well.

The Rowan County Commission agreed to fund the supplements beginning next school year, but the Rowan-Salisbury school board opted to start funding the supplements until then.

Doing so will cost $3.1 million, which will be taken from the district’s fund balance. As of June 31, the fund balance was $7.3 million.

“This would be well within that fund balance,” Herndon said.

Herndon explained that there is no board policy or state law that mandates how much the district must keep on hand.

“I have always heard somewhere between 4-7 percent is appropriate,” Herndon said. “If you look at that range, a healthy level of fund balance for our district is between $1.6 million and $2.9 million. So even after a fund balance appropriation of $3.1 million, we would still be left with a solid fund balance level.”

Herndon mentioned that after district officials met for the September retreat, conversations advanced swiftly.

“The good news, with (the board’s) support and backing, we reached out very quickly to the county commissioners and were able to get a meeting scheduled with them on Sept. 28,” Herndon said. “We had really great, productive and meaningful conversations. We were together for about an hour and a half. We made the determination during that time that it would be great if we made a commitment to meet quarterly to keep each other abreast of all the things going on in our county.”

On Monday, school board member Kevin Jones said the vote represented a welcomed resolution.

“We have been trying to figure out how to move in this direction for a while, so I am excited that conversations, meetings, as well as stewardship on our end, to be able to have this fund balance,” Jones said.

The school board chair, Dean Hunter, credited Rowan-Salisbury Schools Athletic Director Brad Hinson for getting the ball rolling for coaches.

“The last time (coaches received a supplement) was about nine years ago,” Hunter said. “I think that was a bag of popcorn and a candy bar that we gave them. This is somewhat significant compared to what they have been getting.”

Hunter lamented that even with the 8 percent, teachers would still be supplemented less competitively than those in nearby districts.

“We asked for 10 percent because surrounding counties are at 10 percent,” Hunter said. “We are funding this now out of our own fund balance. (The county commission) approved to pick it up next year, which we are grateful for, but now we are just at 8 percent when others have been at 10 percent for 3-4 years. We are getting there, but we are still behind.”

The school board vice chair motioned to approve Herndon’s recommendation, Alisha Byrd Clark, and seconded by school board member Kathy Sanborn before passing with unanimous approval from the entire board.