At the June 16 regular board meeting, the Conroe ISD board of trustees approved the 2026-27 employee compensation plan presented by CISD Chief Financial Officer Karen Garza.
The conditions
Garza said the total additional cost of the 2026-27 employee compensation plan compared to the previous estimate is $700,000 more, but it does not include across-the-board pay raises for teachers.
Only certified teachers who have reached three or five years of experience will receive pay raises. Certified teachers with three years of experience will receive a $400 pay raise from $63,850 to $64,250. Certified teachers with five years' experience will see their salaries increase by $2,500, from $64,700 to $67,200.
Garza said the district understood early on that pay raises for all teachers would not be possible this year, which is why CISD planned and addressed it in last year's compensation plan. As previously reported, last year the board voted to approve salary increases for teachers, of up to:
- $2,100 for first- and second-year teachers
- $2,500 for third- and fourth-year teachers
- $5,000 for fifth-year teachers and up
Alongside last year's salary increases, the board also approved additional contributions of $300 for teachers with five to nine years of experience and $500 for teachers with 10 or more years of experience.
In their own words
“We would like nothing more than to recommend an across-the-board pay increase for our employees. Tonight, however, the funding just is not there,” Garza said. “This is a reality we anticipated. Last year during the budget and raise process, our strategy was to frontload everything we possibly could into the 2025-26 compensation plan. We did that with a clear understanding that moving into 2026-27, given how the state has shifted how they provide funding for raises for employees, that we would not be able to provide raises this year.”
The district will still explore future pay raises and compensation opportunities as they become available, Garza said.
Garza also said that with this new compensation plan, she expects the budget to remain balanced before the board approves it at the next meeting in August.
