Griffin-Spalding County Board of Education members unanimously approved a resolution at their Tuesday meeting that essentially translates into a voluntary pay cut for them. The resolution is a response to Gov. Sonny Perdue’s recent order to furlough teachers who work more than 190 days per year for three days, resulting in a pay deduction for those educators.

“It’s a great idea for us to lead by example. Everybody is sacrificing a bit for the better of the whole,” said board member James Westbury at the July 28 meeting, where he brought up the suggestion of carrying the teachers’ three percent pay cut over to the board.

“They do that to show support for our teachers,” said Jim Smith, director of finance for Griffin-Spalding County Schools.

Smith explained that the salaries for board of education members are based on the state base salary for an entry-level teacher with zero years of experience, which is currently $33,424,00 per year. The chairperson of the board receives 30 percent of that amount, all other board members get 25 percent.

For entry-level teacher with no experience, the three furlough days result in a loss of $527.75. Based on the percentages by which board members get paid, board chairperson Fannie Delaney took a pay cut of $158.33. Board members Westbury, Barbara Jo Cook, Zach Holmes and James Graham will be paid $131.94 less.

Smith said that while the amount of the board members’ pay cuts doesn’t seem much, proportionally it still follows the rate by which teachers lost part of their salary.

“It’s still the same percentage that teachers get,” he said.

The resolution will be effective for the fiscal year 2010, which began July 1, 2009 and will end June 30, 2010.