This compensation increase sets the starting teacher pay at $62,400, which is among the highest starting teacher salaries in the Greater Houston area according to a July 24 news release from the district.
How we got here
Board members and Katy finance officials began discussing a 1%-3% compensation increase for staff at a June 26 meeting, where Chief Human Resources Officer Brian Schuss said the starting pay for teachers then was $60,700. This put Katy ISD’s starting teacher salaries below the rates at Cy-Fair ISD, Fort Bend ISD and Lamar CISD, according to data presented by Schuss.
In the weeks since, Board President Victor Perez said KISD's trustees and administration worked hard to make necessary adjustments to the upcoming 2023-24 budget to allow for a 3% pay raise for all staff. Perez said these changes impacted board members' votes at the July 24 meeting.
“We now think [the general fund] is going to be around $340 million, which is a significant increase and improvement from what we looked at before,” Perez said. “We're now projecting [the budget surplus] to be $14.2 million before salary increases, compared to the $3 million we saw last month. And the budget deficit—instead of being $19 million ... is now going to be a budget deficit of $7.4 million. These are significant improvements.”
Related highlights
During the public comment period of the July 24 meeting, Mark Grisdale, principal at Tompkins High School, advocated for the 3% raise for all staff. He said every staff member plays a crucial role in student outcomes.
“It’s an incongruence to laud the education of the whole child, but to not recognize that everyone from principal to the janitor, the teacher to the counselor, plays a role in student success,” Grisdale said. “An effective school is the epitome of team concept. Compensation is recognition of the value that an individual in any given position brings to the organization in which they work.”
