• Jackson County — Current 0 percent, 2 percent set to take effect in August
• Macon County — 0 percent
• Swain County — 0 percent
• Haywood County — 2 percent

Jackson County teachers will probably get a pay raise next year as commissioners are expected to OK a 2-percent salary supplement.

Passing the supplement will take Jackson off of the dwindling list of counties that do not offer pay supplements. According to the North Carolina Association of Educators, as of 2002 only seven counties did not offer pay supplements. All of those counties were in Western North Carolina — Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Macon, Madison, Swain and Jackson. Macon County is said to be in the process of enacting one, said Jackson County Commissioner’s Chairman Stacy Buchanan.

Haywood County already has a teacher’s supplement, which currently stands at 2 percent and is set to incrementally. In comparison, teachers in Asheville receive a 12 percent supplement, while Chapel Hill teachers receive almost twice that.

The decision to enact a supplement will cost Jackson County approximately $256,000 per year, Buchanan said. No tax increases are expected.

But supplements aren’t so much about money as they are appreciation, said veteran Jackson County teacher Sue Bartlett.

“One way to tell teachers you appreciate them is by giving them some kind of local supplement,” she said.

Bartlett was largely responsible for getting the issue on the commissioners’ agenda this year. Having received a newsletter from the state reminding teachers of the status of supplements in every county, Bartlett saw that Jackson County was one of the only counties in the state not to have one.

“As I read it, it made me angry and it hurt my feelings,” she said.

Bartlett began putting up flyers in the Cullowhee Valley School teachers’ breakroom about upcoming commissioners’ meetings and drumming up support with the help of local NCAE president and CVS teacher Marcia Kotila.

More than 20 CVS educators turned out for the Jan. 13 meeting when commissioners Joe Cowan and Buchanan gave their verbal agreement to a 2-percent supplement. Both Cowan and Buchanan are educators themselves.

“If those places can pay supplements I think Jackson can,” Cowan said, in reference to Pasquotank County and other places in the eastern part of the state.

The supplement will take effect at the start of next school year. Kotila, who has 27 years experience, says that she hopes this is only the beginning. Teachers will continue to push for increases.

“It’s a good start,” Kotila said. “We need to start somewhere.”

Jackson County teachers previously had asked for a supplement, but were turned down. Kotila speculated that one of the reasons the supplement was finally approved was that teaching shortages had befallen Smoky Mountain High School where Buchanan works. First-hand knowledge might have turned the tide.

“I think this year maybe him seeing the impact at his school made the difference,” Kotila said.

Jackson County has high numbers of both first-year educators and those with 30 years or more of experience. Those first-year teachers often are lured away by nearby school systems that offer supplements, leaving Jackson County schools scrambling for replacements. With a supplement now on the books, the hope is to retain some of those teachers who might have otherwise gone elsewhere.

Buchanan said commissioners had agreed to enact a supplement long ago, but were waiting for the budget cycle to generate the funds to be able to do it. With the funding available and student population on the rise, it was time to support a supplement in full.

“With the new growth estimates that we’ve got, we just wanted to assure them that it is next on our list as a priority,” Buchanan said.