$8 million in stipends will pay more money to most Muscogee school employees
Most employees of the Muscogee County School District will receive more money this year with retention stipends expected to arrive before the holidays.
During its meeting Monday night, the MCSD board unanimously approved superintendent David Lewis’ recommendation to give a one-time retention stipend of:
- $2,000 to teachers eligible for benefits
- $1,000 to teachers not eligible for benefits
- $1,000 to all other employees eligible for benefits
- $500 to all other employees not eligible for benefits.
Employees who are paid monthly must be actively working Nov. 1 to receive the stipend Nov. 30, and employees who are paid semi-monthly must be actively working Nov. 9 to receive the stipend Dec. 15, the meeting’s agenda says.
The stipend will be subject to taxes, according to the agenda.
MCSD employees excluded from the stipend are board members, community coaches, employees on leave without pay, employees who haven’t worked at least five days during this fiscal year, part-time employees not regularly working, outsourced workers, employees of the Columbus Public Libraries and non-MCSD employees of the Columbus Museum, the agenda says.
The school district owns and operates the libraries and the museum, which also have semi-autonomous separate boards..
Money to pay this stipend will come from the reserves in MCSD’s general fund, according to the agenda. MCSD chief financial officer Janice Bloodworth told the board during its Oct. 13 work session the total cost of providing this stipend will be approximately $8 million.
MCSD’s fiscal year 2026 general fund budget estimates $417.8 million in expenditures and a fund balance of $68,323,494.
The MCSD administration added in the agenda that the state-funded $1,000 supplements for school-based custodians, building mechanics and general maintenance workers will be paid at the same time as these stipends.
MCSD has more than 5,500 professionals serving more than 30,000 students, according to its website.
What MCSD board members said about these stipends
Board vice chairwoman Laurie McRae of District 5 said she is glad to see the teachers will receive an additional amount in their stipend.
“I do feel strongly that they are the backbone of our school district,” she said during the work session. “… I do want the teachers to feel extra special love for what they are putting in day-in and day-out.”
Kia Chambers, the nine-member board’s lone countywide representative, emphasized MCSD plans to hire a company to conduct a compensation study to determine whether “our teachers are being paid a competitive wage — or all our workers, period.”
Board chairwoman Pat Hugley Green of District 1 noted the compensation study will analyze salaries for all MCSD employees “because we are asking people to do more with less. … We talk all the time about the teacher shortage and the bus driver shortage and we’re outsourcing custodial work. … Everyone is valued. Everyone contributes to educating the whole child.”
Green cautioned her fellow board members, “We need to be prepared when it reveals where we stand in the marketplace for all of those (job) categories.”
Lewis told the board that all employees are “very valued.”
“But it’s also important to be fiscally responsible,” Lewis said. “The idea is to get the compensation (study) done thoroughly but also in a timely manner so we can consider moving forward with some of the implications in the next budget cycle.”
Unlike raises that are spread out over 12 months, Lewis said, “the nice thing about this stipend is that they’ll get something for the holidays that will really feel like they received something significant. So that’s our intent and hope.”
This story was originally published October 20, 2025 at 6:55 PM.
