Northwest ISD board of trustees approves employee pay raises, retention payments

The Northwest ISD board of trustees approved pay raises and one-time retention payments for full-time employees at its Jan. 24 meeting.

The board approved a 3% midpoint pay raise for all employees, along with increases to the teacher hiring schedule and daily guest educator and nurse rates, according to the agenda item.

The pay raises were done in order to stay competitive with other school districts because data showed NISD mostly falling on the lower end of teacher salaries for the 2021-22 school year.

The district’s 2021-22 starting teacher salary is $56,500, Kim Barker, NISD executive director of human resources, told the board at the Jan. 10 meeting. In comparison, Fort Worth ISD’s starting teacher salary is $58,000; Lewisville ISD’s is $56,925; Keller ISD’s is $56,800; and Grand Prairie ISD’s is $57,250.

The approved changes increase the new-hire salary for a teacher with zero years of experience to $58,250, while a new hire with 30 or more years of experience would receive a $71,940 salary. The guest educator and nurse daily rates will be increased by about $5 to $10, depending on the position.

In addition, the board approved one-time retention payments of $500 to help keep existing employees, improve recruitment and reward employees for working through the COVID-19 pandemic’s challenges, according to the agenda item.

The retention payments will be disbursed in June 2022 to eligible employees, who must be employed full-time and on the district payroll no later than Jan. 3, 2022, and remain full-time and in good standing on May 26, 2022.