School district trustees approved June 23 a nearly $1.9 billion budget for the upcoming school year, which results in a $1,000 annual pay bump for teachers and raises wages for other staff.
The budget plan sets aside $6.3 million for a 2% raise for teachers based on midpoint salaries, according to district officials.
“We wanted to make sure we didn’t lose ground with teacher pay and we were competitive,” Eduardo Ramos, AISD’s chief financial officer, said during the board’s budget meeting.
That includes financial incentives so teachers will stay. Starting next school year, the district will pay a $2,000 retention stipend to full-time educators and $1,000 to those who work part time. A $500 stipend will be awarded to teachers who have been with the district for more than five years.
Meanwhile, $8 million will go to raise the district's minimum hourly wage to $16, from $13.50, and another $1 million will go to increasing the minimum hourly pay for bus drivers to $21 from $17.
Of the entire budget, a good portion will go toward an $846 million recapture payment, the highest in the state, district officials said. The funding plan was started by the state Legislature in 1993 and reroutes money from property-wealthy school districts to those that have less.
The 74,000-student school district’s new budget is about $33 million less than last year, according to district officials.
“We wanted to make sure we didn’t lose ground with teacher pay and we were competitive,” Eduardo Ramos, AISD’s chief financial officer, said during the board’s budget meeting.
That includes financial incentives so teachers will stay. Starting next school year, the district will pay a $2,000 retention stipend to full-time educators and $1,000 to those who work part time. A $500 stipend will be awarded to teachers who have been with the district for more than five years.
Meanwhile, $8 million will go to raise the district's minimum hourly wage to $16, from $13.50, and another $1 million will go to increasing the minimum hourly pay for bus drivers to $21 from $17.
Of the entire budget, a good portion will go toward an $846 million recapture payment, the highest in the state, district officials said. The funding plan was started by the state Legislature in 1993 and reroutes money from property-wealthy school districts to those that have less.
The 74,000-student school district’s new budget is about $33 million less than last year, according to district officials.
