The PISD board of trustees at its April 12 meeting approved in a 6-1 vote a salary compensation package of 2% across the board for 2022-23 school year and reserves the right to provide a mid-year pay supplement to employees depending on analysis and fund balance.
“While the 2% [raise regarding teachers] is not perfect, it definitely gets us closer to where the market is going,” said Sundie Dahlkamp, PISD’s executive director of human resource services.
Board Vice President Jeff Barry was the lone vote against the motion. He raised concerns about the district’s fiscal year budget running on a deficit the past two years and expressed frustrations with some of the district’s administration staff.
According to the district’s adopted budget book for the 2021-22 fiscal year, PISD operated on a deficit in both the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years.
Barry made a motion that would have placed a balanced budget amendment as an item at a future school board agenda, but it failed because no other trustee seconded the motion. The April 12 meeting was Barry’s last on the board. He is pursuing a seat on Pearland City Council in the May 7 election.
With the approval of the 2% raise across the board, the district will set aside just under $2.85 million in additional funding for employees for fiscal year 2022-23—$1.71 million for teachers, $503,558 for auxiliary staff, and $631,520 for administration and professional staff, according to agenda documents.
The general pay increase for returning staff will not go into effect until July 1, and teachers will not see the pay bump until they return to the district in August, Dahlkamp told Community Impact Newspaper on April 12.
“The original intent with bringing forth salaries tonight separate from the budget was because HR truly values the ability to message to teachers their raise before they leave [for the summer],” Dahlkamp said.
