All employees receiving $300 incentive
The Boerne Independent School District board of trustees voted unanimously Nov. 18 to increase hourly employee compensation by $1.25 per hour and to give a onetime retention incentive of $300 to all employees.
The raises and incentive are designed to help the district stave off additional losses, following 54 resignations since July.
“Seeing that 54 hourly employees have left, if that trend continues, it will make things very difficult for the district,” Dallas Pipes, board trustee, said.
The pay raise will take effect Jan. 1.
The hourly adjustment will apply to teacher assistants, clerical staff, technicians, custodians, food service workers, bus monitors, ground keepers, security staff, warehouse staff, maintenance workers, and tradesmen.
The hourly increase will not apply to bus drivers, who received a $3 per hour increase earlier this semester. Neither will it apply to substitute teachers and contracted employees.
The $300 retention incentive will apply to all employees.
These moves will add $819,000 to the current fiscal year district budget. Superintendent Dr. Kristin Craft said the pay raises should be offset by an anticipated $500,000 in state funding and $500,000 in interest income.
Chief Financial Officer Wesley Scott told the board since the state funding will be recurring income, it’s reasonable to take it into consideration as an offset looking forward.
Craft said state law does not allow the district to provide midyear pay raises to teachers, so she made the recommendation for the retention incentive.
The consensus among board members was that teacher sal- ary adjustments are a priority for the next fiscal year budget.
Craft further noted that 18 of the 54 employees lost since July were teacher assistants.
Since September, 10 of 22 teacher assistant offers were declined due to compensation, Craft said.
“When a teacher assistant is missing, it has a domino effect” on other areas of staffing, board Trustee Kristi Schmidt said, and ends up directly impacting students in multiple ways.
Trustee Maritza Gonzalez- Cooper expressed concern about the impact on the district’s current fiscal year budget, which already stands at a projected deficit, an amount Scott confirmed to be $4.2 million. Gonzalez- Cooper said she wanted to make sure the present action would not create difficulties for future boards.
Trustee Rich Sena pointed to the district’s strong fund balance, as he characterized it, as providing more than ample cushion for making the move.
“Even with the deficit we will still be at three months reserves in our fund balance” at the end of the fiscal year, he said.
Sena said he believes Boerne ISD is in better shape than surrounding districts. He said Boerne ISD’s budget deficit compared very well to Northside ISD, which he said was $90 million, to Northeast ISD, at $39 million, or Judson ISD, at $25 million.
Even though those are larger, “When you compare Boerne ISD to other districts, we are doing well,” he added.
Craft said approving the hourly pay increase would move Boerne ISD from 10th in rank among 13 area districts to fifth or sixth, the upper middle of the pack.
Pipes claimed the problem of districts statewide running deficits is the consequence of the state Legislature’s need to step up funding for public schools.
Board President Garrett Wilson cited the higher cost of living in the Boerne area and commuting for those who do not live near Boerne as additional reasons that a pay increase was advisable for the district to consider, to remain competitive.
In other news, the board named current Champion High School interim Principal Natalie Benke as its new principal.
Craft cited Benke’s “more than 25 years of experience in education, visionary leadership, and management skills” as qualities making her suited for the role. Benke began her career in 1998 as a teacher in the Medina Valley School District.
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