FALLING BEHIND
F i r s t - y e a r t e a c h e r
1 1 - y e a r t e a c h e r
2 1 - y e a r t e a c h e r
Galena Park ISD: $60,850
Galena Park ISD: $63,850 Spring Branch ISD: $63,790 Cy-Fair ISD: $64,425 Fort Bend ISD: $64,000
Alief ISD: $69,068 Cy-Fair ISD: $69,708
A compensation study conducted by HISD in May 2021 showed the district was below average in how well it compensated teachers.
Alief ISD: $59,700
Spring Branch ISD: $59,000 Pearland ISD: $59,000 Cy-Fair ISD: $58,500 Fort Bend ISD: $58,500 Aldine ISD: $58,000
Galena Park ISD: $66,850 Spring Branch ISD: $67,790 Fort Bend ISD: $69,000
KLEIN ISD
TOMBALL ISD
59
290
SPRING ISD
Alief ISD: $63,390
ALDINE ISD
CY FAIR ISD
Pearland ISD: $65,568 Aldine ISD: $65,236 Klein ISD: $65,072 Spring ISD: $65,225 Houston ISD: $66,208 Tomball ISD: $65,596
Pearland ISD: $62,568 Tomball ISD: $61,896 Spring ISD: $60,425 Aldine ISD: $61,202 Klein ISD: $61,287 Katy ISD: $61,550 Houston ISD: $61,185
99 TOLL
45
SPRING BRANCH ISD
KATY ISD
Klein ISD: $57,800 Spring ISD: $57,425
GALENA PARK ISD
10
HOUSTON ISD
ALIEF ISD
610
Katy ISD: $57,365
6
288
Houston ISD: $56,869 Tomball ISD: $56,700
FORT BEND ISD
SOURCE: HOUSTON ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
N
PEARLAND ISD
Katy ISD: $64,975
COMPENSATION PLAN Principals, assistant principals, school police and teachers would all see pay increases under a proposed compensation plan. A rst-year teacher’s salary would increase from $56,869 in 2021-22 to $64,000 by 2024-25.
education funding. HISD o cials said the intention is to preventmoney being spent for the sake of it, and the district is working with principals to make sure important needs are met when it comes to supplies and other services that may need funding. The strategic plan is expected to have a net cost of $255 million in the 2022-23 school year, House said. At the same time, revenues could fall because of a drop in enrollment of roughly 15,000 students between the 2019-20 and 2021-22 school years. Although federal COVID-19 relief funds can help plug some holes temporarily, the need to reform the budget process remains, House said. HISD o cials also introduced a new compensation plan for all district employees March 3, including propos- als for salary increases over the next three years. Based on a survey from earlier this year, House said around one-third of the district’s teachers are considering leaving the district in the next school year for a variety of rea- sons, including safety and pay. The plan is based on an analysis of compensation at other school districts and market trends, HISD Chief Tal- ent O cer Jeremy Grant-Skinner said March 3. The district looked at teach- ers, principals, assistant principals and police o cers as separate groups as well as the master pay scale, which includes all employees. “What we see in those results is a lack of current competitiveness pretty much across all of those groups,” Grant-Skinner said. Among other changes, the strate- gic plan calls for an adjustment to the teacher pay scale of 4% in addition to step increases every year for the next three years. The starting teacher sal- ary would increase from $56,869 in the 2021-22 school year to $64,000 in the
or consolidating schools, House told board members it is not currently part of any plans, but the district will be looking at all options. Although schools would be required tospendacertainamount of fundingon baseline sta ng positions—including a nurse or associate nurse, wraparound specialist, and librarian or media spe- cialist—discretionary funding will also be allocated that principals can use on other nonsalary costs, including mag- net programs, which will be expanded under the plan. Still, some parents said schools should be given more auton- omy to determine what their biggest needs are. “I don’t believe that in a district of 200,000 kids, [headquarters] can say, ‘All your needs are the same,’” saidMac Walker, who serves as the director of budget and nance for the River Oaks Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization. Hope for the future Despite Santos’ concerns, one area she said the strategic plan gets right is the commitment to increasing teacher pay. Current salary o erings are not feasible for a teacher who also has the responsibilities of bills and a family to take care of, she said. “We can’t a ord to be cheap on the No. 1 indicator of success for students,” Santos said. “We need to honor talent.” House’s vocal commitment to improving equity is something Jackie Anderson, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, said she has been waiting on. “We have long
2024-25 school year. “This would mean we’d be above the average of our regional competi- tors in that third year even if they keep growing at the same rate they’ve been growing at in the last three years,” Elizabeth Santos, District 1 trustee and the board’s rst vice president, was among the board members to be caught by surprise when House announced the budget freeze. She said she left the initial workshop with more questions than answers. Santos told Community Impact News- paper she is willing to allow House to do what he needs to do to bring the strategic plan to fruition. However, she said she also wants to serve as the watchdog during the process, which is what she believes her community expects from her. Grant-Skinner said. Caught bysurprise ”I wanted to know how the budget was playing into the strategic plan,” Santos said. “I didn’t see that with his presentation.” Santos said she would like to see a more detailed plan of the budget in the future—one that includes how much money each school is going to get with a better way to compare schools. San- tos said she is especially concerned the cost-cutting measures could involve shutting schools down in communities with high concentrations of poverty. At a March 24 budget workshop, House said the process of coming up
First-year teacher
11-year teacher
21-year teacher
$80K
$70K
$60K
$50K
$40K
$0
equity or want to appease their constit- uency groups,” she said. The conversation will continue at future workshops, including one that took place March 31. As of press time March 28, o cials said more informa- tion on speci c school allocations were to be released at that meeting. The district is also digging into whether a bond election would be appropriate, House said. “There are going to have to be some bigger cuts as we move forward, and that will be part of what the next 12 months will be about,” House said.
with a plan to “right-size” the district will begin this summer and could take 5-6 months before a plan is nalized. On the pros- pect of closing
U p c o m i n g m e e t i n g s
April: The HISD board will host a budget workshop to discuss the long-term nancial outlook and how to address the structural de cit. June: The HISD board will meet to adopt the budget for the 2022-23 school year.
heard of equity, and now we will see if the district leaders believe in
For more information, visit communityimpact.com .
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HEIGHTS RIVER OAKS MONTROSE EDITION • APRIL 2022
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