Hutto ISD raises floor on employee wages

In the hopes of attracting and retaining the best teachers and staff, Hutto ISD officials raised all employee wages by 2 percent May 7.

Amy Campbell, assistant director for human resource services with the Texas Association of School Boards, presented the HISD board of trustees with a series of pay raise recommendations. Broadly, Campbell recommended an across-the-board wage increase. More specifically, she proposed several targeted raises for employees with specific skill sets. Those raises were also adopted.

The 2-percent raise ensures HISD offers competitive salaries in Central Texas, HISD Superintendent Doug Killian said.

"We are taking an aggressive stance with recruiting and retaining employees to make sure our schools and departments are the very best they can be," Killian said in a statement.

In her presentation, Campbell said average wages of teachers on several experience levels were below but very near 100 percent of the market pay rate.

"Our goal is to get ... your employees into that range," Campbell said.

The wage increases will cost about $680,000. In 2013 HISD increased employee salaries for the first time in three years, according to a news release.

"We are going to see if incentivizing what we want is going to help," Killian said during the HISD board meeting, regarding the incremental pay increases for specific specialties and experience levels.