WS Chronicle

Due to a $16 million miscalculation on the part of the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WS/FCS) Human Relations Department, teacher’s supplemental increase will be $2,000 less than what they were told a month ago.

Here’s what we know: On Dec. 14 the WS/FCS Board of Education approved supplemental salary increases of $3,861, which equates to more than $300 per month for some teachers.

But all that changed last week. In an email to teachers and staff, Superintendent Tricia McManus said over the holiday break, they discovered an error in the original calculation. “It was a significant calculation mistake and thankfully, it was captured before the schedule was ever implemented and executed,” wrote McManus.

On Tuesday, Jan. 11, the board approved a new supplement increase of $1,800 per teacher and $6,400 supplemental pay for beginning teachers.

While giving a presentation on the supplement and the miscalculation, Andrea Gillis, WS/FCS chief financial officer, said with the original formula they multiplied the number of employees at each pay grade on the schedules, by the new monthly proposed supplement amount. The formula that should have been used multiplies the number of employees at each pay grade on the schedule by the increase in the annual cost of the supplement.

Gillis, who discovered the miscalculation, said moving forward the district will implement several tactics to make sure the error doesn’t happen again. In order to mitigate future errors, the district will provide additional training on how to review for accuracy; compensation estimation (district wide and individuals) must have two HR staff to review for accuracy; all district wide estimations must also be reviewed by two members of the finance team; and all estimates will be calculated using multiple methods.

In other business, the board also unanimously approved a motion to continue the mask mandate for teachers, students and staff for at least the next nine weeks.