Carroll school district to boost employees with 3 percent raise

For the fourth year in a row Carroll district officials plan to give employees a 3 percent raise, but the district still lags behind most of its neighbors in what it pays teachers.

At an Aug. 1 budget workshop, administration officials recommended trustees give all employees a 3 percent raise for 2016-17 to improve the district’s ability to attract and retain faculty and staff members.

For the 2015-16 budget year, starting teachers in Carroll schools earned $49,400. New teachers got $51,000 at Keller, Northwest and Birdville and $50,000 at Grapevine-Colleyville. The Hurst-Euless-Bedford district paid $53,500, the highest amount on the west side of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to an annual salary survey from the United Educators Association.

Out of 31 area districts, Carroll is typically around 16th in the survey which looks at salaries for teachers with no experience and at five year increments up to 30 years in teaching. Keller and Northwest are typically in the top five.

Carroll gave 3 percent raises in each of the last three years, a 1 percent raise in 2012-13 and no raise in 2011-12.

Carroll Superintendent David Faltys said a 3 percent raise would allow the district to improve its standing among area districts, or at least not lose ground.

Keller, Grapevine-Colleyville and Northwest all plan to give 2 percent raises while Hurst-Euless-Bedford will hold on to its place at the top with a 3 percent increase.

Matt Miller, assistant superintendent for administrative services, said that a district salary study a year ago showed officials the need to boost salaries for operational support staffers but more work was needed to continue to compete in the job market.

Miller said higher pay helped administrators fill vacancies in child nutrition and custodial services, but “we’re not quite there yet.”

Scott Wrehe, assistant superintendent for financial services, said a 3 percent raise would result in a deficit of about $1.8 million for 2016-17 and close to $3.9 million for 2017-18.

Carroll has surplus reserves in district savings, or fund balance, of about $15 million. Officials want to retain around $20 million to cover cash flow and the fund is expected to be at $35 million when the fiscal year ends Aug. 31, Wrehe said.

Carroll board members are scheduled to adopt the budget at a special meeting Aug. 29.

This story was originally published August 9, 2016 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Carroll school district to boost employees with 3 percent raise."