One item on the agenda intended to correct inequity regarding stipends within the district's Special Education Department drew in several speakers during the public forum period.
The Hays CISD board of trustees voted June 27 to increase pay for teachers, nurses and librarians by $1,700 for the 2016-17 school year.[/caption]The board shouldn’t freeze the salaries of special education teachers, said Martha Wristen, a Hays CISD speech language pathologist. The board needs to focus attention back onto the students they’re serving, she said.
“It’s disturbing when those above you are getting substantial raises and benefitting, yet the people working directly with students are not,” said Margarita Limon-Ordoñez, who has worked within the district for 17 years.
Both Wristen and Limon-Ordoñez requested that the board roll the stipends into salaries and not freeze the salaries without increases, but board members had doubts.
“I’m concerned that if we don’t freeze the pay of the people who are already making more than the typical employee, then the discrepancy is going to get higher,” District 2 Trustee Willie Tenorio said.
In the end, the board voted to freeze salaries until stipends are rolled into their base pay. Trustees emphasized that no paychecks will be decreased.
The board also voted unanimously to adopt a compensation plan that will increase many district employees’ salaries. Teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors will see an a flat pay increase of $1,700 more than next year.
Teachers at Simon Middle School have historically received a $1,500 stipend each year because the school's schedule ran 30 minutes longer than other district campuses, district spokesman Tim Savoy said. Hays CISD moved to a uniform schedule across the entire district last year. In the 2016-17 school year, the $1,500 will go away, but Simon teachers will still receive a $1,700 flat raise, Savoy said. Their annual salaries will increase a total of $200, he said.
Other employees will get 3.5 percent raises from their midpoint in their salary range. For example, a mail courier who made $8.59 an hour with a midpoint of $10.62 in his or her pay range in 2015-16 will make $8.75 per hour in 2016-17.
The board also voted to increase pay for substitute teachers by $10 per day, district spokesman Tim Savoy said.
