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The McDowell County Commissioners told the Board of Education Monday they are willing to increase teacher supplements to a level comparable with Burke County’s in order to recruit new teachers to the local system.

“Education is a priority of this board,” said Commission Chairman David Walker to school system officials. “We’ve made teacher supplements a priority.”

“You keep good people by paying them well,” said Commissioner Tony Brown.

On Monday, the McDowell County Commissioners and the Board of Education held a joint meeting at the Central Office on South Main Street. School Superintendent Mark Garrett gave a presentation about how the local system and the amount of low wealth money coming from the state. At one point, the school system thought it would take a hit of $602,000 in only low wealth funding from the state. But after doing more research, school officials said they learned the state had made an error.

Suzanne Rampey, chief finance officer for the schools, said she and others found out the McDowell system would actually get $121,000 in additional low wealth money.

“I’ve shared with my colleagues that you might want to check your numbers and make sure what you’re being told is the truth,” said Garrett.