The board of trustees approved increasing the starting hourly wage to $13.30 for custodians in a 6-0 vote at its Aug. 15 meeting. CISD did not give custodians a raise in the 2021-22 school year, but trustees did approve a $1,000 retention payment to staff, including custodians, in July.
Trustee Sheri Mills was absent from the meeting.
The current starting rate for custodians is $12 an hour. Two options for pay increases were presented to the board by Lauren Wurman, CISD’S executive director of human resources. One option was an increase of $1.50 an hour for current staff and an increased starting wage of $13 an hour. Total cost to the district would be $197,650, according to the presentation.
The second option was a $2 an hour increase for current employees and a starting rate of $13.50 an hour. This option’s total cost to the district would be $275,908, the presentation stated.
Trustee Eric Lannen made a motion to increase starting wages to $13.30 an hour. He said that amount would put the district above the median pay and “in the range or slightly above” surrounding districts. Wurman said an increase to $13.30 for new employees would give current staff a raise of about $1.80 an hour.
The presentation gave data on starting rates for custodial positions from neighboring districts in the 2021-22 school year. Grapevine-Colleyville ISD raised its pay from $12 an hour to $13.50 an hour, Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD offers $13.32 an hour for its starting rate, and Birdville ISD raised its pay from $13 an hour to $15 an hour, the presentation stated.
Wurman said CISD's custodial department lost 30% of staff this last year, some of whom moved to nearby districts that had higher wages.
As of Aug. 15, CISD’s custodial department has 13 staff openings, Wurman said.
“[Custodians] have had to make decisions,” Wurman said. “While they love [Carroll ISD] and they love our kids and they want to be here, it just does not make financial sense for them to be here when they could go to Birdville and make $15 an hour.”
The board also discussed whether to participate in a detailed salary survey of school districts done by the Texas Association of School Boards. The study would evaluate competitive market prices, determine whether employees are being paid within market range, determine whether jobs are placed correctly in the district's pay structure, align pay structures with the market and review and recommend administrative guidelines for managing pay systems, the presentation stated.
The study would begin in late fall and be completed in January. The final report would be presented at the board’s workshop meeting on Feb. 6, Wurman said. The board has not yet decided whether to go forward with the study.
