UISD tables compensation vote amid opposition from teachers

The United Independent School District board of trustees tabled a vote Wednesday on its compensation plan for the 2026-27 school year following public pushback as the district continues to address its budget shortfall.

The proposed compensation plan was discussed at Wednesday's special board meeting and included potential savings of $2,424,442, $2,863,384 or $3,302,326 depending on whether extra-day stipends and contract days were reduced by one, two or three days.

The proposed base salaries ranged from $53,000 for uncertified teachers with no creditable years of experience to $72,482 for teachers with 30 years of experience. The salaries represented reductions ranging from $100 to $636.

Most of the savings would come from monthly stipend reductions totaling $1,985,500.

The extra-day stipends could be reduced by one, two or three days. The savings per day would include $37,698 from 101 facilitator and lead teacher positions, $64,580 from 188 athletics positions, $37,631 from 74 fine arts positions and $3,293 from 10 CTE teachers.

For contract-day reductions, the district estimates savings of $67,879 from 236 employees on 218-day contracts, $157,314 from 565 employees on 226- and 236-day contracts and $70,547 from 547 employees on 240- and 261-day contracts.

Beth Ovando, a third-grade teacher at Bonnie Garcia Elementary School, said the classroom should be protected first amid tight budgets rather than being the first place to cut. She said teachers are already routinely funding classroom supplies out of their own pockets and are now being asked to absorb more costs.

"Teachers understand sacrifice. Every year, we sacrifice our time and our own money. What is difficult to understand is why the people working closest to students continue to be asked to do more with less," Ovando said. "If teachers are being asked to accept lower compensation, reduced stipends, higher insurance costs and continued out-of-pocket classroom expenses, then where are we sharing the sacrifice?

"Why are classroom teachers being asked to do more with less while administrative salaries remain unchanged and administrative positions remain unchecked for efficiency? The success of UISD is built in classrooms, not in offices."

Clarissa Fraga, a second-grade teacher at Veterans Memorial Elementary School, agreed with Ovando. She asked the board to reject the proposal and direct administration to explore consolidating upper-level administrative functions and vacant positions "before reducing the earnings of the people who make this district as successful as it is."

"Leadership is not about asking others to sacrifice first. Leadership is about exhausting every other alternative before asking those with the least ability to absorb the cost to carry the burden," she said. "Our employees did not create this challenge, but they are being asked to pay for it."

Ramon Rodriguez Jr. is a teacher at the LBJ ninth-grade campus and has been a coach for 28 years.

He said the removal of stipends would cause significant harm to coaches who already routinely work without additional compensation, including being unpaid during summer conditioning and volunteering at elementary, middle and high school track meets.

"You have kids coming in to work to get better, to represent the district and, to the best of their ability, to shine for UISD," he said. "Coaches don't get paid a cent in the summer."

He said coaches work four or five hours per day in their primary sport, and most help in one or two additional sports due to a coaching shortage, meaning they work up to eight hours each day with no compensation.

"When we do some great stuff with the kids, everybody shares in the wealth," Rodriguez said. "But now we are knocking down coaches and saying, 'Thank you for the accolades, thank you for helping the kids, but now we're going to cut your days. We're going to kick you while you're down.'

"We're here for the kids. We want to be here, but not to the point we are working for free, and now no priority stipend to at least help us a little bit with gas."

Prior to discussing the proposed compensation, the board reviewed an update on the budget shortfall. After an initial projected budget shortfall of about $28 million for 2026-27 due to declining enrollment, reduced state funding and higher operational costs, the deficit has been reduced to about $7.3 million.

The savings include about $4.5 million from the consolidation of Matias De Llano Elementary School and Amparo Gutierrez Elementary School. The early incentive program for voluntary resignation has reduced staffing by 227 positions, resulting in about $5.8 million in savings. There has also been about $10.5 million in savings from districtwide cost-saving initiatives.

District 7 board member Dianelle Martinez agreed with many of the comments, saying the proposed reductions would be disproportionate, with a smaller percentage of impact on higher-paying positions. Similar to previous board discussions, she requested that administration provide multiple scenarios to consider.

"Unfortunately, I have yet to see these meaningful alternatives," she said. "We are UISD, and there has been no thinking out of the box."

Martinez suggested providing a scenario based on pay grades rather than days.

"We could have maybe seen more savings. It doesn't make sense to me that last year the board approved - and again I was very vocal against it - a 2% pay increase all across the board because you wanted to be fair with a percentage, but now we are doing contract days."

During the presentation, Associate Superintendent of Human Resources David Canales addressed comments suggesting more cuts should be considered for administration.

"I've earned my way here. I've heard the comments," he said. "I'm empathetic with the teachers, and I do talk to teachers. I get it. I agree with them. But unfortunately, these are the cards we are dealt. We're having to make these tough decisions."

"We're already scraping the bottom of the barrel," he said. "The only thing left is getting rid of people."

Martinez motioned to postpone the vote and direct administration to return with additional options.

Prior to the vote, District 6 board member Michelle Molina said she is not in favor of reducing days and that her opinion is not going to change regardless of when they vote.

"That is going to completely regress the progress we've made throughout the years. You take a day away from a paraprofessional, and that is a lot of money," she said. "It's not fair, and it's not right. Taking away days at all from fine arts, coaches, campus administrators, these people are the ones in the trenches. Because of them and all the hard work and everything they do, that incentivizes our students. It is a domino effect all the way around."

The motion to postpone the vote passed. The board was advised that employees must be notified of changes to compensation no later than 45 days before the first day of instruction, putting the deadline at about June 28. The board is expected to address the issue again at its next meeting at 6 p.m. June 17 in the SAC Auditorium.

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