School employees will be getting raises instead of bonuses this year as the school board opted to fund the increase permanently instead of deciding each year if the bonus would reoccur.The raise is $600 a year for all employees which includes teachers, support staff and non-certified workers. Teachers are also getting $600 from the state.The board of education officially adopted the raise Thursday night after their hopes to have the county fund the raises out of the “sinking fund” or local option sales taxes were dashed when the commission refused to even vote on the idea in their budget meeting. The school board worried that having to pay the reoccurring raise, which will come out to about $300,000 every year, would threaten their budget in lean years.“We owe it to our teachers,” said Director of Schools Patrick Cripps who was committed to providing the money as a raise not a bonus.