Gwinnett school board approves budget; includes teacher raises

Gwinnett County school board members unanimously approved a $1.86 billion budget Thursday evening that will include raises for teachers and higher starting salaries for new teachers.

The starting annual salary for new teachers will be slightly more than $41,000, an increase of about $3,000. Gwinnett officials wanted to increase starting pay to be more competitive with nearby school districts. The average salary increase for nearly all teachers will rise by about 4 percent.

Board members initially adopted the budget two weeks ago, but were required to hold a public hearing Thursday before the final approval. One resident, Ken Craft, urged the board to remove any funding for some Advanced Placement courses that were revised during the 2014-15 school year. Craft and others have complained the revised curriculum in the AP U.S. History course is politically biased and contained some inaccuracies.