Earlier this year, I shared with our community my key budget priorities for the upcoming 2019-20 school year, and I am pleased to announce that those priorities were all fully funded. This is only possible due to the strong collaboration with our teachers, parents, and staff in developing the budget.
I also want to thank our School Board and the Board of County Supervisors for their unanimous support, and our local state representatives who helped advocate for, and pass, an increase in state funding for teacher pay. Through this collaboration, we are able to provide an average 4.8 percent increase for our teachers and employees, with no increase in employee health care costs.