Teachers and employees in Pearland ISD will be getting a pay bump in the upcoming school year after the district’s board approved $8.7 million in raises and stipends at its June 10 meeting.

The compensation package includes nearly $8.4 million in salary increases and about $310,000 in stipends, district agenda documents show.

What you need to know

The passage of House Bill 2, a statewide school funding package that will send $8.5 billion to public schools over the next two years, allowed PISD to compensate teachers with the following:

• $2,500 for teachers with three to four years of experience
• $5,000 for teachers with five or more years of experience
• 3% pay increase for teachers with less than three years of experience and non-teachers

The 3% pay increase will also be based on the district’s new control point, or maximum base pay of $68,163, and the starting teacher pay of $64,250, according to district documents.

Non-teachers, including administrative staff in areas related to business, education and support, instructional support and auxiliary needs, will also receive a 3% pay increase, according to district documents.What else?

In addition to pay raises, PISD trustees also approved over 50 stipends, totaling about $310,000, according to district documents.

Stipends at PISD have not been touched in over a decade due to prior constraints on funding, district documents note.

Keep in mind

While the board approved the compensation package, they reserve the right to readdress a mid-year supplemental payment for employees depending on the district’s projected fund balance, according to district documents.

How we got here

In previous budget workshops, the district had presented multiple salary increase scenarios, which resulted in costs of $4.5 million to nearly $6 million, Superintendent Larry Berger said at the June 10 meeting.

The updated compensation plan for salaries will cost the district $8.4 million—$6 million of which will be funded by the state from HB 2.

The district will now only pay the remaining $2.4 million for salary increases through its general fund, Berger said.

The $2.4 million is less than the projected amount that would have been spent in previous salary scenarios, so it will eliminate the projected shortfall and create savings for the district, Berger said.

Stay tuned

The district has the following timeline to discuss its 2025-26 budget:

• June 24: public hearing on tax rate and budget adoption
• July 25: final certified values
• August 12: tax rate adoption