A public work session of the School Board is set for this Wednesday to continue discussion of the proposed budget.

The meeting will take place beginning at 4 p.m. at King’s Fork Middle School in the media center.

The $161 million budget includes an average 2.4-percent raise for school system employees, with higher adjustments at the bottom of the teacher scale to aid recruitment efforts.

At Thursday’s public hearing on the budget, the School Board heard from 18 employees, parents and students who criticized the amount of the proposed raises. It’s not enough, they said, especially with soaring health care costs and prior years in which they went without raises.

The budget proposal has increased about $4.2 million from last year.

An additional $2 million is requested from the city of Suffolk, which provided $53.8 million last year.