The Austin ISD board of trustees began discussing the school district's fiscal year 2016-17 budget during its Sept. 14 board dialogue meeting, reaching consensus that employee compensation has to be a priority. “I think compensation has to be our focus,” trustee Amber Elenz said. Trustee Paul Saldaña said compensation is also a priority for him because the district is investing dollars into teacher retention but it continues to lose them as AISD employees. Trustee Jayme Mathias said there has to be some direction by administration on the messaging of compensation. Mathias advised that the message should be that employees are given benefits such as Social Security, rather than saying the district ranks 10th place out of 10 in terms of Central Texas school districts' salaries. Superintendent Paul Cruz said every 1 percent pay increase for all AISD employees costs the district $4.9 million. The board approved a 3 percent salary increase for all employees in the 2015-16 budget, which cost the district $14.9 million.