FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM)-- The Fayetteville School Board voted Thursday (July 27) night to approve a $3,000 raise for staff members beginning at the fall 2017 school year.
One goal of the raise is to make the school a contender with other districts when it comes to wages.
Superintendent Dr. Matthew Wendt said this is the first sizable raise for Fayetteville teachers since 2008.
“That will move us from fourth to second," Wendt said. "We should surpass Rogers and Bentonville in starting salary and the average teacher salary.”
He explained there have been teachers in the past leave the district for better paying jobs.
Anna Beaulieu, a French teacher at Fayetteville High School (FHS), was happy to see the raise go through.
She said it was validation for all teachers that the school values what they are doing.
“It means something when they’re willing to put their money into the teachers who are educating the students of this community," Beaulieu said.
She will have been teaching at FHS for 18 years this year.
Beaulieu's children when to FHS and she wanted to give back to the community that helped her children.
She was happy to see Wendt and the school board be open and willing to consider the raise.
Not only does she see this as a validation to current teachers, but it is something to attract qualified teachers to the area to continue educating the children of Fayetteville.