New Caney ISD employees can expect to receive a minimum 4% pay increase for the 2019-20 school year. On June 17, the NCISD board of trustees approved a compensation package that aligned with requirements of the recently approved House Bill 3, which is the school finance reform bill.

Teachers, librarians, counselors and nurses with five years of experience or less will receive a 5% compensation package increase, or a $4,639 raise, for the 2019-20 school year. It includes a $2,875 general pay increase, a $42 district contribution to benefits, a $922 state contribution to the Teacher Retirement System and an $800 one-time stipend that will be paid in two installments.

Teachers, librarians, counselors and nurses with six or more years of experience will receive a 5.5% compensation package increase, or a $4,930 raise. The package includes a $3,163 general pay raise, a $45 contribution to benefits, a $922 state contribution to the Teacher Retirement System and the $800 stipend.

All other employees will receive a 4% pay increase, which includes the $800 stipend.

Meanwhile, the starting teacher salary has been increased from $54,500 to $57,000, said Scott Powers, executive director of public relations for NCISD. Powers said the district typically offers 2% to 4% raises annually to keep pace with the cost of living. He said the larger raises were due to HB 3, which was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 11.

"Those percentages are larger than typical, and yes, that is directly related to the impact of HB 3," Powers said. "One of our goals is to try to remain in the top quartile for the Houston area [for teacher salaries], and we've been able to do that to this point, so we'll continue to do that."

The reform will add almost $15.5 million and roughly $16 million to the district’s budget in 2020 and 2021, respectively, according to the Legislative Budget Board’s model runs for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years.

HB 3 mandates districts to allocate 30% of new moneys to employee raises with three-fourths of the funding reserved for teachers, librarians, counselors and nurses, according to the bill text.