Note: This article has been edited to reflect the fact that raises proposed by the school board were for total compensation for all employees, not just teachers. 

Though the proposed Rowan County budget for the coming year does not boost school funding enough to give all school employees a local raise of 1 percent, the budget does increase the allocation for the local schools’ general expenses by $800,000.

So some suggest a raise of less than 1 percent. Things to consider:

• The state pays most teachers’ salaries, and lawmakers in the state House have proposed a 2 percent increase for teachers in next year’s budget.

• Local governments fund teacher supplements to be paid in addition to state salaries to boost local teacher recruitment.

• According to a database developed by WRAL in 2014, Orange County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools pay the highest teacher supplements in the state, both averaging well over $6,000 per teacher per year.

• Rowan-Salisbury’s average teacher supplement is $2,206, the WRAL report says. The state average is $3,550.

• Rowan could never expect to compete with Charlotte-Mecklenburg on teacher supplements. But it also lags behind several surrounding systems with more moderate supplements, all below the state average. They are:

Lexington City Schools, $3,437

Mooresville Graded Schools $3,101

Cabarrus County $2,626

Davidson County $2,502

Iredell County $2,334

Davie County $2,300

• At least two neighboring school systems have lower supplements than Rowan County:

Stanly County $1,950

Kannapolis City Schools $1,882

• Eight school systems in the state, primarily in the northeast, have no supplements.

• The Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education asked the county for a $4.3 million increase in current expense allocation — enough to increase employee pay 2 percent and restore second-grade teaching assistant positions, which the state cut.

• A 1 percent raise for all school employees from the county would cost $1.2 million. The proposed budget covers 66.6 percent of that.

• Funding a full 1 percent would require that the county or the schools cut something else to come up with the other $400,000 — or raise taxes.

• Meanwhile, other counties are considering increases to their supplements.

• Last point: No one goes into teaching to make a lot of money. That’s a good thing.