The pay increases became the longest topic discussed during the four-hour meeting, following a report presented by Superintendent Lori Rapp.
What happened?
The 89th legislative session passed House Bill 2, which impacted teachers' salaries, but it was for teachers with three years of experience or more who would get that raise.
Teachers with three or four years of experience will see a $2,500 raise and those with five years or more will receive a $5,000 raise. That is a total of $15.6 for LISD.
HB 2 also allowed a support staff retention fund of $45 per average daily attendance for employees who are not administrators. For LISD, that tally was $1.68 million, according to the presentation.
Rapp said that HB 2 does not cover teachers with two years or less experience, classroom aides, librarians, nurses, counselors, maintenance workers and bus drivers.
What they’re saying
“We did not make that choice with HB 2 to carve out teachers specifically in that manner,” Rapp said. “We appreciate, of course, the legislature understanding that compensation for teachers needed to be addressed, but it has created a little bit of a hard place for school districts and that you're having to have different types of raises for different types of employees.”
How we got here
LISD staff presented a compensation package that included a 3% raise from the midpoint for all staff and an increase in substitute teachers' pay rates for the 2025-26 school year. Substitute teachers pay will see an average increase of about $7, from $128.57 to $135.71, depending on degree and/or certifications.
However, the raises for staff members will take a hit due to an increase in health insurance costs.
Teachers in years one and two, left out of HB 2, will receive a $2,074 raise. Due to the medical insurance going up $51 a month, would see a net increase of $1,462 on their salaries.
Administrative support will receive a $1,030 raise, but the net increase would be $416 after medical insurance. Instructional support staff’s $830 raise would be a net of $215 after insurance.
“You think 3% and to somebody, maybe the legislators, sounds like a lot of money,” Trustee Sheila Taylor said. “It's not [enough], especially when you add in the benefits. This 3% is the bare minimum, but it's not enough for what our staff do.”
Zooming in
The projected deficit for fiscal year 2025-26, without help from the state, would’ve been $35.4 million, Rapp said. HB 2 will contribute $17 million of the $22.3 million of planned raises, according to the presentation.
Rapp said the district is still looking at a $9.9 million budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year.
Also on the agenda
Kaleigh Malone was named the principal of Valley Ridge Elementary STEM Academy at the meeting.
Malone most recently served as assistant principal of Garden Ridge Elementary, a position she held for three years. Before being named principal at Valley Ridge, Malone was set to be assistant principal at Heritage Elementary.
Malone began her career in education at Grand Prairie ISD from 2010-13. She joined LISD in 2013 as a third-grade teacher at Central Elementary before moving to Vickery Elementary in 2016 as a dual language instructor and campus mentor. Malone accepted the assistant principal role at Wellington Elementary in 2018, where she served for four years before taking the same position at Garden Ridge Elementary in 2022.
