The Mathews County School Board got an early start on this year’s budget process—and members quickly determined they’ll need every minute of that time in order to plead their case for increased compensation for teachers and support staff with county supervisors and the community at large.

Normally, the school board holds its first budget work session in January; this year, that work session was convened before the start of December’s regular monthly meeting, which was held on Tuesday in the Mathews High School media center.

While school board members were presented with a 122-item list of needs to consider, including capital projects and items requested by the division’s three principals, discussion focused primarily on one item—the need to boost pay in order to retain quality teachers and compete with neighboring school districts for an ever-shrinking pool of classroom instructors.

Even if the governor’s proposed 5 percent pay increase for ...