Teachers at the new Warrington Prep Academy are seeing hefty pay increases over what the Escambia County School District is offering, and a rumor has been floating around that the salaries are tied to grants and special funds that disappear after the first year.
So I asked Dr. Eddie Ruiz, Charter School USA’s state superintendent, about the pay on my radio show this morning.
He said, “The salaries that we said we would do—which are way above what the district’s doing, $10,000 to $15,000 over—that money is not grant related.”
“That is a bad misconception, and the salaries are here to stay. In fact, that’s only going to increase because the governor just signed a billion dollars for teachers’ salary increases, which will be an increase of $500 million, of which we get a share. The money will only continue to increase for teachers, not go down.”
Dig Deeper: Charter Schools USA gave its first progress report to the State Board of Education last week. The company took over Warrington Middle School in June after the Escambia County School District failed to turn around the school’s academic performance over the past decade.
“We had a great first meeting in front of the State Board of Education,” said Dr. Eddie Ruiz, Charter School USA’s state superintendent. “It was actually some of the first good news the State Board of Education has heard regarding Warrington in over two years. They were really ecstatic and excited about the progress we made.”
He continued, “ I gave them an update on our facilities, HR, enrollment, opening day procedures and our partnerships with the community and with, uh, all the partners like you that have been really invested in partnering with us to ensure we have a successful opening.”
The first day of school for the Warrington Preparatory Academy is less than two weeks away, and Charter School USA has been working furiously to be ready.
“We had to transform and make this place a place for students to be able to come and enjoy,” said Dr. Ruiz. “When the students walk in day one, they’re going to see a place that’s renovated, that’s new, that smells good, that they know that they’re going be able to learn and be successful.”
He added, “The team here has been working super hard, and they’re invested and want to see the fruits of the labor here when that students come in day one.”
