Hutto ISD trustees weigh longevity stipend for teachers, staff

Hutto ISD teachers could soon receive stipends at certain milestones of employment with the district.

On April 27, trustees considered a series of stipends that would be awarded to district staff at 10 years of employment and every five years after that.

As proposed, the stipends would begin at $250 for 10 years of service, going up to $500 for 15 years, $1,000 for 20 years and another $500 per five years after that, up to $2,000 at 30 years.

Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Cara Malone said the proposed stipends would cost the district approximately $38,000 for the 2022-23 school year.

However, trustees advocated for several changes to the proposal, including adding a stipend for five years of service and increasing the stipend amount for all milestones.

"We don't know about the future budgets, but if we want to make a statement on this and we want to attract good teachers, I think it would be important for us to make an increase, especially at the lower levels," Trustee Felix Chavez said.

Trustees voted unanimously to postpone the item until May 11, when district administrators will return with information on the budgetary impacts of the requests.