Fort Worth ISD gives teachers a raise. Will Texas put up the money to pay for it?
.jpg "Teachers in Fort Worth ISD are getting a raise")
Teachers in the Fort Worth Independent School District will get a raise next year, under a compensation plan adopted by the the school board Tuesday evening.
Now, officials in the district are waiting to see if state lawmakers will come through with money to pay for it.
The board approved a compensation plan that included 2% raises for district executives and 3% raises for all other employees, including teachers and support staff. The change raises the district’s payroll by about $23.1 million.
Amy Campbell, director of HR services for the Texas Association of School Boards, told the board that the pay increase would put the district in a good position to compete for employees with other districts across North Texas.
School budgets mired in uncertainty amid impasse in Austin
Teacher pay is one of several points of uncertainty for school districts. As school districts across the state finalize their budgets and compensation plans for the upcoming school year, they do so without a clear picture of how much money they will have to spend. During the regular legislative session, lawmakers considered a bill that would have used part of the state’s $32.7 billion budget surplus to raise teacher salaries and send increased funding to school districts across the state. But that bill died at the end of the session amid an impasse between the Senate and the House over a school voucher proposal.
Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to call lawmakers into special session to deal with both the school funding and school voucher issues later this year. But that special session isn’t expected to begin until after lawmakers reach an agreement on property tax reform. A special session on property tax reform ended Tuesday afternoon with no deal in sight. The governor immediately called for a second special session, also dealing with property taxes, to begin later Tuesday.
FWISD board approves $45 million budget deficit
At Tuesday’s meeting, the board also approved a budget of about $1 billion for the 2023-24 school year. The budget places the district in a deficit of about $45 million for the school year. Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria, the district’s chief financial officer, told the board that district officials had hoped to be able to move toward a balanced budget this year. But a number of one-time expenses, including roof replacements, put that goal out of reach, she said. The district has enough money in reserve that it can cover the deficit without overextending itself, she said.
Arrieta-Candelaria said district officials are also still hopeful that lawmakers will reach a deal to increase funding for school districts during a special session. Although it’s unclear exactly how much of a funding boost the district would get, any increase would help offset the deficit in the budget, she said.
Several board members expressed reservations about approving a deficit budget. Before voting to approve the budget, trustee Anael Luebanos said he would support the proposal because district officials said that’s what they needed to help students continue to make progress. but he said trustees need to hold district leaders accountable for those resources. Luebanos said he expects to see improved academic performance as a result.
“We are approving this budget because we want our students to succeed,” he said.
This story was originally published June 27, 2023 at 8:01 PM.
