The San Marcos CISD board of trustees approved a new compensation plan for the 2026-27 school year. The plan will provide a 2% increase to staff salaries while reducing the district’s monthly health insurance contribution.
What happened
At a May 18 board meeting, SMCISD staff presented the board of trustees with four options for the 2026-27 compensation plan. Each option included a different percentage raise to staff pay:
- Option 1: no raise
- Option 2: 1% raise
- Option 3: 1.5% raise
- Option 4: 2% raise
The board approved Option 4, granting staff a 2% raise. The compensation plan will contribute approximately $2.07 million toward the shortfall,
according to agenda documents.
The living wage for a single adult with no children in the Austin, Round Rock and San Marcos area is approximately $23 an hour, according to MIT Living Wage Calculator.
“I would like to see administration come back to the board with a strategy for getting our district up to what was referenced earlier tonight as a living wage,” SMCISD board President Anne Halsey said. “I think that would be targeted increases to ensure all of our employees are able to live on the pay that they receive from the district.”
Diving deeper
As a result of rising premium costs, all of the proposed plans featured a reduction in the district’s contribution to its health insurance, provided through TRS-Active Care, according to agenda documents.
“I think we need to be honest about the reality of our financial situation,” said Jessica Cain, SMCISD board vice president. “I think all of us would love to keep the insurance continuing to cover all the insurance costs, and also give raises, and we simply were already putting ourselves at a $2 million deficit by choosing this option.”
The total monthly cost for the district’s employee-only primary insurance is $521. The district had an insurance contribution cap of $484 per month during the 2025-26 school year. Under the new plan, the cap will be reduced to $350 per month.
Employees utilizing the district insurance plan will pay $171 per month with the reduced district contribution cap, or $2,052 per year.
“Under this compensation plan, [the cap] eats into all of those pay raises for employees,” SMCISD board trustee Miguel Arredondo said. “There's nothing left if they were to continue paying their insurance.”
If the district were to implement the 2% staff pay raise and keep the insurance contribution cap at $484, the budget shortfall would be approximately $3.77 million in fiscal year 2026-27, according to district officials. With the raise and a full district contribution of $521 per month, the shortfall would be $4.17 million.
“This is not a position I think any of us desire to be in,” Halsey said. “We would all love to continue to be able to pay the full freight for our employees, but we have very limited options. I don't want to have to go through what we did last year and have to cut a large percentage of our workforce and consolidate positions.”
