Extra Credit

FULKS RUN — If the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors comes up with any extra revenue, the Rockingham County School Board wants to put some of it toward one-time bonuses for school division employees.

The School Board voted unanimously Monday in favor of asking the supervisors for funds to give division staff a bonus if additional revenue becomes available.

“They’ve got a good handle on what they can and what they can’t do,” said board member Lowell Fulk of the supervisors. “If they can [give our employees a bonus], they will.”

Rockingham Schools Superintendent Carol Fenn said the gesture was appreciated by school staff members, who have not seen a raise since fiscal 2009.

Employees did, however, receive a one-time 3.5 percent bonus — which cost approximately $1.9 million — in 2011.

“We wanted to give a raise for quite some time now,” Fenn told the board.

Chairman Dan Breeden said he anticipated giving a flat-rate bonus — like the one the Harrisonburg City School Board approved for that division’s staff on Nov. 6 — rather than basing the amount of the bonus on an individual employee’s salary.

At its last meeting, the City School Board voted to ask Harrisonburg City Council to appropriate $912,872 to the division to give full-time school employees a $1,000 bonus and part-time employees a $500 bonus.

Council, during its meeting Tuesday night, approved Harrisonburg City Schools’ request.

The school division returned about $1.5 million to the city’s general fund at the end of fiscal 2012, which wrapped up June 30, City Manager Kurt Hodgen said. Those funds are unappropriated.

The supplemental request from the school system for bonuses represents more than half of that amount.

— DN-R Reporter Preston Knight contributed to this story.

Contact Emily Sharrer at 574-6286 or esharrer@dnronline.com