San Marcos CISD teachers and staff will see salary increases for the 2025-26 school year.

The gist

SMCISD officials approved a pay increase for employees using state support staff retention allotment funding at a Sept. 15 meeting. The district has $284,572 to allocate for employee compensation.

Funds will be distributed evenly among employees who have not yet received a raise, including:

• Auxiliary staff
• Paraprofessionals
• Instructional coaches
• Admission, review, and dismissal—or ARD—facilitators
• Speech therapy assistants
• Registered nurses
• Counselors
• Teachers with less than three years of experience

Administrators will not receive a raise as SSRA funds are not eligible for this use.

By the numbers

Each qualifying employee will receive an annualized pay increase of $476.

Additionally, qualifying teachers will receive the following pay increases from a teacher retention allotment:

• Three to four years of experience: $2,500
• Over five years of experience: $5,000

The 2025-26 raises will be of no cost to the district. Both the support staff retention and teacher retention allotments are funded by House Bill 2, which was passed by the 89th Texas Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in June.

Other models for higher employee compensation were presented at a Sept. 15 meeting, but were not selected due to concerns about the cost. Currently, SMCISD is operating at an estimated $3.8 million budget shortfall.

What they’re saying

“I think the employees of the district ... would much prefer we remain solvent to pay salaries in 2026, 2027, 2028, than get a couple bucks in 2025,” trustee John McGlothlin said.