Winchester’s close proximity to larger metropolitan areas like Lexington and Louisville makes it a great place to live, but also creates significant competition when it comes to finding and keeping the best employees.

This may not be more apparent than it is with our teachers and educational support staff.

With that in mind, we applaud the Clark County Board of Education for its efforts to take care of its employees and stay competitive with other communities that may have more financial resources.

The board approved a 2 percent increase for teachers and 4 percent for other classified employees.

We know these are difficult decisions and challenging times, as revenue decreases and operating expenses rise at a disproportionate rate.

This was still the right thing to do.

Buildings are important. Technology is critical. Safety is indisputable. But nothing directly impacts a student’s success like the quality of teachers and other staff that make the educational foundation strong.

This will likely mean the district has to watch every dollar it spends moving forward and find increased efficiencies elsewhere since salary increases tend to snowball over time.

And, still, it was the right thing to do.

Our schools are worth it. Our youth is worth it.