Spring ISD teachers, librarians, nurses and counselors can expect a pay raise of $2,250-$3,250 for the 2019-20 school year, following the unanimous approval of Spring ISD’s 2019-20 budget by the board of trustees June 12. Part of the funding for the pay raises is a result of House Bill 3, which was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott June 11. The bill requires increased compensation for staff as well as school property tax reform. “The teacher raises are part of Spring ISD’s commitment to reward our educators who do so much every day in the classroom to support the academic success of our students,” Superintendent Rodney Watson said in a statement. “Our teachers are true professionals and well-deserving of these pay increases.” Under the newly-adopted budget, classroom teachers with zero to four years of experience will receive a raise of $2,250, while teachers with five years or more of experience will receive a raise of $3,250. Additionally, counselors, nurses and librarians will receive a 3.5% raise, custodians will receive an additional 75 cents per hour and Community Academic Structured Education paraprofessionals will receive paygrade increases. All other staff not included in the HB 3 teacher group will receive a 2% pay raise. “We are very pleased to be able to provide these salary increases for our teachers and staff,” Board President Rhonda Newhouse said in a statement. “This is a great way to recognize all of their hard work, in the classroom and in support areas.” In addition to pay raises, the $416.9 million budget also includes additional funding for school safety initiatives, additional staff for new facilities and additional funding for College, Career and Military Readiness. The new budget will also allow SISD to decrease the middle school student-to-teacher ratio from 33:1 to 30:1.

Budget breakdown

The $416.9 million budget includes $324.6 million in the general fund, $64.4 million for debt service and $27.8 million for child nutrition. According to SISD Chief Financial Officer Ann Westbrooks, the priorities of the 2019-20 budget include special education, gifted and talented, arts integration, professional development and literacy programs. The budget is based on a projected enrollment of 35,391 students, an average daily attendance of 32,363 students, an estimated comptroller’s value of $14.1 billion and a proposed tax rate of $1.43 per $100 taxable valuation. The 2019-20 proposed tax rate is broken down into 97 cents for maintenance and operations and 46 cents for interest and sinking, according to budget documents. However, a tax rate will not be formally adopted until October. Of the general fund, payroll costs make up 87.5%, while contracted services makes up 7.4%, supplies and materials make up 3.1%, other operating costs make up 1.9% and capital outlay makes up 0.1%. In terms of general fund revenue, local funds make up 45.4% and state funds make up 52.6%, while federal funds only make up 1.9%. “As a point of reference, when I looked back about nine years ago when we prepared our 2010-11 budget, the state’s portion of our total revenue was at 68% and the district was only picking up about 31%,” Westbrooks said. “So … over the last several years, the local share of the total cost to educate the students in Spring ISD has continued to rise, which means our taxpayers and our community is picking up a much larger share of the total cost of our education of our students than they have over the last several years.” For more information about the 2019-20 budget, click here.