In response to concerns over teacher pay in Mathews lagging far behind its neighbors and the flight of qualified classroom professionals to other localities as a result, the Mathews County School Board voted to move ahead with a 13 percent pay increase for all its employees as it continues to develop its 2019-2020 budget proposal.

The board took this action during a budget work session Tuesday afternoon in the Mathews High School media center. In the regular monthly meeting that followed, teachers and other employees let it be known they stand squarely behind the board in this matter.

Mathews educators, many wearing Mathews Education Association “RED4ED” T-shirts, filled the high school’s library in a show of support.

School board member Linda Hodges said that she is afraid that county supervisors would hear yearly the same plea for increased teacher compensation, see that teachers are still staying on the job, and conclude there is no reason for a pay raise.

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