Tuloso-Midway ISD approves raises

Months into the start of the school year, Tuloso-Midway ISD has decided to offer staff raises.

The T-MISD Board of Trustees voted Monday evening to approve a new compensation plan and budget amendment, re-thinking its earlier stance from the beginning of the year.

The board approved a raise of 2.5% of the midpoint salary for teachers and 1% of the midpoint for administrative and auxiliary staff.

The pay raises are retroactive, meaning staff will receive the higher pay for the months they have already worked this year as well. Two T-MISD teachers attended the meeting, sharing that higher pay could improve morale and retention as educators and their families face financial hardships.

Superintendent Steve Van Matre said the updated compensation plan was of "vital importance" to staff.

The board also approved higher pay for certain positions like special education paraprofessionals.

"There's three categories that were glaringly underfunded and this puts (them) on a different pay grade," Van Matre said.

The district offered 8.5% teacher raises last year.

"After two years, that's 11%," Van Matre said. "To me, that's a very strong message to our employees that we're going to remain competitive.

The raises will cost the district about $439,000, increasing the district's deficit this year from about $2.3 million to about $2.7 million.

Additionally the district's fund balance, the money it relies on in the event of an emergency or to cover a deficit, is low. The district's goal is to have a high enough fund balance to cover at least three months of operating expenses, or about a quarter of the annual budget. T-MISD currently has a fund balance of less than 22%, short of the 25% goal.

Van Matre said the district took out about $5.5 million from it savings to make athletic improvements about a year ago. Deficit budgets also interrupt efforts to rebuild a healthy fund balance.

The deficit and low fund balance are the primary reasons the board decided against raises earlier in the year.

"When we came forward in August with this proposition, these numbers were horrible," Trustee Janie Anguiano said. "There was no way in our right mind that we could jeopardize what we have — or what we didn't have, rather — to move forward."

But now the board is banking on hopes that the district's actual expenses this year will not be as high as the expenses approved in this year's budget plan, Trustee Ben Benavides said.

Van Matre presented the board with figures showing that last October, the district spent 8.33% of the annual budget. This year, it spent 8% in October.

Van Matre added that attendance has been particularly high this year, a good sign for the district's attendance. In Texas, state school funding is distributed based on a district's average daily attendance.

"Our challenge is to make sure that that stays that way or improves," Van Matre said.

Additionally, Van Matre said, the district has lost several staff members since the budget was adopted and no longer plans to fill those open positions.

"Nobody was fired, nobody's been let go," Van Matre said, explaining that the staff members left for personal reasons, such as a family move. "It's just attrition."

Van Matre said that the district is currently a bit overstaffed. Though having low staff to student ratios is beneficial to learning, Van Matre said the district can operate with fewer employees in many areas.

"If we lose a teacher in adaptive education, we have to replace it," Van Matre said. "But at our elementary campuses, we're running 16 or 17 (students) to one (teacher). That's (a low ratio). That's expensive. We may not be able to do that next year, but it sure is beneficial for academic success."

Board members stressed that despite their earlier vote against raises, they did want to support teachers.

"It was never a question of whether (teachers) deserve a raise," Trustee Leo Gonzalez said. "But we have to be fiscally responsible too."

Despite calls from educators to increase state school funding and raise teacher pay, Texas lawmakers failed to pass legislation on the issue during the spring legislative session. Other Coastal Bend districts, including Corpus Christi ISD and West Oso ISD were put in similar positions to T-MISD of having to consider raises without new state support and facing deficit budgets.

"We wish we could give y'all (school staff) everything," Board President Kim Boone said. "The state of Texas is tying our hands and we have to be good stewards of our money. At the same time, we've got to make sure we take care of the glue of the system."

Explaining their current support for raises, trustees cited the plans to cut spending and the savings due to staff attrition.

"It is hard for us to swallow a bigger deficit tonight," Boone said Monday. "But we are truly trying to do what is in the best interest of our students, our employees and our community."

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Tuloso-Midway ISD approves raises