At a meeting May 23, the Hays CISD board of trustees approved the early release of new jobs and stipends for the 2022-23 school year ahead of the scheduled annual budgeting process set to begin in June. The board approved the addition of color guard teachers, middle school assistant principals, districtwide security monitors and more, while positions such as data programmer and human resources coordinator were postponed until the budgeting sessions for further discussion.

The early release of these positions will make them available sooner than if they were postponed until the budgeting sessions, at which point they would not be made available until late June or early July, according to agenda documents.

The “advanced approval,” coupled with the board's recent decision to approve a 7% cost-of-living adjustment for all employees, are the district's attempt to tackle recent staffing shortages.

Trustee Esperanza Orosco assured the board that the remaining positions that were not approved at the May 23 meeting will be brought back for further discussion and are not being denied.