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Hays CISD employees will see various changes to the employee compensation plan for the 2026-27 academic year.
The HCISD board of trustees approved the 2026-27 compensation plan at an April 27 meeting.
The overview
Many of the changes to the plan reflect the $12 million budget cuts announced in March.
Changes include:
The district will not provide a cost-of-living adjustment this year.
In case you missed it
Additionally, librarians were moved from the education professionals hiring schedule to the academic professionals schedule.
Librarians previously received master’s degree stipends, which are being suspended due to budget cuts. Librarians are the only group affected by stipend suspensions who are required to have a master’s degree, according to Chief Human Resources Officer Christina Courson. By moving librarians to the academic professionals scale—which Courson said they should already have been on due to the degree requirement—the district will be able to maintain their current salaries.
One more thing
Some library media specialists will receive lead stipends next year. This added stipend is due to changes in librarian roles and responsibilities following cuts; those individuals will act as the lead librarian for their assigned grade levels and travel to multiple campuses.
There will be one lead librarian for HCISD middle schools and one for high schools, Courson said at an April 20 agenda workshop meeting.
Quote of note
“We’ve been known for prioritizing our staff for cost-of-living adjustments and pay raises,” board President Byron Severance said. “However, with the state funding, we haven’t been able to do that this year. With rising costs, we need to protect our fund balance, [and] we had no viable path forward without these measures.”
