COMPENSATION DISPARITIES
Guilmart said teachers and paraprofessionals have seen pay raises end up going toward rising health insurance premiums, which increased by about 62% from 2017-22 for individual employees, according to district data. She also said she believes compensation increases do not necessarily account for the amount of work demanded. “Even before the pandemic on a yearly basis, we see an increase in our job expectations andwork out- side of contract hours with no meaningful increase in pay,” she said. “As our pay increases, so do our insurance premiums. And considering the number of hours we put in on weekends and evenings to keep up with grading and parent contact or lesson planning and paperwork, the pay is not adequate.” The extraworkeducators areputting indailyhas led many to experience burnout, according to Guilmart. “AS OUR PAY INCREASES, SODOOUR INSURANCE PREMIUMS. AND CONSIDERING THE NUMBEROF HOURS WE PUT INONWEEKENDS AND EVENINGS TOKEEP UPWITHGRADINGAND PARENT CONTACT OR LESSON PLANNINGANDPAPERWORK, THE PAY IS NOT ADEQUATE.” LESLEY GUILMART, CY FAIR ISD INSTRUCTIONAL COACH Robert Long III, senior regional advocacy director with statewide nonpro t Raise Your Hand Texas, said he believes the state’s accountability system is another factor playing into teacher burnout. While the pandemic forced teachers to change the way they delivered their lessons, Long said the state placed the same pre-pandemic expectations on stu- dents and teachers when it came to performance on standardized tests. The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness kicked o in February and will continue through April in CFISD. “Our Texas accountability systemhas placed undue stress on teachers because they’re expected to keep students at this high academic level when many are dealingwith issues that we can’t even imagine. We are talking about … broadband issues, socio-emotional issues frombeing isolated, not having human contact, [parents’] job insecurity, food insecurity,” Long said. Seeking solutions Despite the added pressures the pandemic has brought on CFISD sta , Long and Guilmart both commended district leaders for innovating to pro- vide relief. In addition to pay raises since the start of the pan- demic, the board has also approved additional paid COVID-19 leave days for employees and work days to give educators time to plan while students take advantage of holidays. Guilmart said administra- tors have also o ered to give teachers a break when
PAY BY POSITION
Some Cy-Fair ISD sta members said pay increases have not matched increased workloads over time.
Teacher: $28.15/hr
Custodian: $10.75/hr
CFISD has 315 TEACHER VACANCIES compared to 159 at the start of the 2019-20 school year.
Bus driver: $18/hr
Nutrition services delivery: $14.62/hr
CFISD has 119 VACANCIES in the transportation department compared to 61 at the start of the 2019-20 school year.
Food production: $13/hr
Paraprofessional: $11.19/hr
$0
$5
$10
$15
$20
$25
$30
SUBSTITUTE FILL RATE
The district’s substitute ll rate shows the percentage of teacher absences covered by substitutes in classrooms. The ll rate declined in 2020-21 and has since trended up again in 2021-22.
2019-2020: 68.5%
Substitute ll rates DROPPED BELOW 50% during the 2020-21 school year.
2020-2021: 45.48%
The ll rate has increased as COVID-19 case counts have declined.
2021-2022: 76.1%
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
SOURCE: CY FAIR ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Compensation and burnout Teachers and other CFISD sta members have voiced their concerns to the district during monthly school board meetings. CFISD teacher Carol Camp- bell explained her concerns for the safety of stu- dents and employees at the Feb. 14 board meeting. “Last year during the height of the pandemic, our rooms were thoroughly cleaned and sanitized each day to protect us from the spread of COVID. We even had plastic shields to help slow the spread of air par- ticles,” Campbell said. “This year, it is as if no one is concerned about the health of our students or sta . We have two custodians to clean a building that is over 200,000 square feet.” She said custodial workers have left the district due to low pay, which according to a recent job post- ing on CFISD’s website, starts at $10.75 per hour. As part of the district’s 2021-22 budget, the board approved 5% salary increases and a $500 stipend at the end of each semester for hourly employees in addition to setting the starting teacher salary at $58,500. While trustees have not yet discussed speci cs for scal year 2022-23, the board typically approves budgets in June.
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education teachers, instructional paraprofessionals, bus drivers, food service workers and custodians. “It is a hard time to be a teacher or support sta employee,” said Nikki Cowart, president of the Cy-Fair AFT. “We have beenworking through a global pandemic with ever-changing rules and guidelines.” As of late February, there were 315 teacher vacan- cies in CFISD—up from 302 at the start of the school year and 159 at the start of the 2019-20 school year. The Texas AFT reported 45% of teachers desired higher pay; 35% wanted their workloads lessened; and 8%were concerned about safety inside schools. In addition to teachers, other school sta have also faced increased pressure. Bus drivers lost routes at the start of the pandemic and had to combine themwhen students returned, while custodians had to use more rigorous sanitation procedures for the same amount of pay, according to Lesley Guilmart, an instructional coach at Cy-Fair High School. With these issues continuing to pile up, teachers, sta and education advocates agreed compensation and workloads must be addressed.
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COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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