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GREENSBORO - Guilford County Schools' 10,000 employees, including its 5,000 teachers, will get their first pay raise in more than three years, come July 1. Officials credited several factors. The new state budget approved earlier this month was among them.

The majority of the district's teachers are funded by the state. The district's chief financial officer said reductions in discretionary funding from the state in this year's budget were less than anticipated, making the pay hike possible.

"We anticipated a $24.5 million discretionary reduction from the state for the current year," said Angie Henry. "The adopted state budget has that number for Guilford County Schools at about $17.5 million dollars, so that has helped us with our current year budget, as well."

The district will use local funding to cover the increase for locally-funded employees.

"We did receive an additional county appropriation of about $465,000," said Henry. "Our board is going to use those dollars to offset the cost of the salary increase for locally funded employees.

Henry said it was unclear whether next year's budget might include another increase. She said a lot will depend on the results of the November election.

"Who makes up the state General Assembly, as well as who's in the governor's office I think will have a determination on what our numbers look like for next year," she said.

As for this year, Henry said 1.2 percent was a small increase, to be sure, but it's a step in the right direction.

"I know our employees are very appreciative that our board allowed us to go ahead and implement those increases in the July time frame," she said.

The Guilford County Board of Education approved the raise for all employees except Superintendent Maurice "Mo" Green, who consistently has declined a pay increase.