BRENHAM SCHOOL BOARD LOOKS AT BUDGET AND COMPENSATION
The Brenham School Board looked at some preliminary numbers for the district’s budget and compensation during a noon workshop meeting today (Monday). BISD Director of Business Kim Horne said that the current plan is to keep the districts tax rate the same at 1.135 but to shift a small amount from debt service to maintenance and operations. That would generate and additional $300,000 in state and local revenue.
Horne said the tax office is expecting the tax base to stay flat compared to last year. Any growth that the tax base has seen is offset by the loss in mineral interests due to the drop in oil prices. The board also looked at some preliminary numbers for a 3 percent midpoint pay increase. Last year the board approved a 4.69 percent midpoint pay increase that brought the starting teacher salary to $40,014. That starting salary is still $4500 below the area average. Horne explained that there are still a lot of unknowns:
The board also receive and update on the new student registration process. Pre-K and Kindergarten enrolment will begin in May. There will be a parent information meeting Tuesday evening at 6 pm at Alton Elementary to answer questions that parents of new students may have.
Board president Natalie Lange received approval from the board to draft a resolution stating the board’s opposition to the state assessment and accountability testing. Several members of the board agreed that the STAAR testing is driving the current curriculum and is limiting what students learn and how they are taught. Last week, students in Brenham and across the state experienced problems with the computerized STAAR testing. Many students found that their answers were lost due to a computer glitch, and had to begin the test all over again.
The board also accepted a donation from the Krause Elementary School PTO. The group raised $20,593 that will be used to construct a cover over the playground area at the school.
I attended a school board meeting, and yes, not much was brought up or talked about that night, but why are there not more people there holding them accountable for their actions? It’s easy to gripe after it is done, why not be proactive and do something before it’s all said and done?
The state pays their employees the same way-if and when you get a raise, the new hires salary is also bumped up so they are making almost what you make after being there for years. Is it fair? NO! but what do you do about it?
Let’s propose raising taxes to fund a 6% pay raise for teachers and all staff members. I wonder how many comments that would get!
Lets trying cutting out all the “specialist” and the army of administrators that have little or no contact with students and see how much payroll that frees up for pay increases. How about looking for other waste before going after tax increases.
I am a long term teacher and reading articles like this makes me VERY ANGRY. The last time they gave a raise the ACTUAL PERCENTAGE I received was much less than the 4.69% they claimed, but yet the new teacher across the hall from me got a raise that amounted to more than 7% of her annual pay (she is a nice lady, but I always have to show her the how things are done). Her percentage increase was almost DOUBLE mine. HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN???? Why should she be given a raise that is double the percentage that I received???? I have more experience than her, my students score better on state tests than hers, my students behave better than hers, and overall I am a better teacher than her because of my experience. She will one day have the skills I do, but at the moment she is getting double the raise I got and I am worth far more if you apply objective measures. I am tired of the administration being dishonest about raises and quietly slipping in the mid-point talk making themselves look good in front of the public while cheating us out of a fair raise out of view of the public.
Also, the comments about there being no discipline in our schools is right in more ways than you know, and yes, our administrators do NOTHING to support us.
The mid-point pay increase is a complete and total SCAM grabbed right out some socialist utopian guide to life. Whoever came up with this idea and continues to sell it is being dishonest with the taxpayers and the teachers.
My wife is a tenured teacher and has yet to see a percentage increase anywhere close to the amount they so proudly publish for the masses to read about. This does nothing but make teachers mad and lower morale. When is this district ever going to become honest and transparent about their fake pay increases and do away with the LIE of a midpoint raise and give a real raise that actually makes a difference on a teachers paycheck?
Who are you going to eliminate so beginning teachers get that high salary?
The pay scale in Brenham ISD is out dated. Brenham ISD will continue to watch quality teachers commute to other higher paying school districts instead of staying in Brenham ISD. The morale of existing teachers is at an all time low. I agree with the husband for being upset that a first year teacher is making more than his wife who has been with the district for three years. This is nothing we can’t see by looking at a salary schedule, and it’s wrong on so many levels. Until Brenham ISD pulls their head out of the clouds and looks at the big picture, great staff members will be history and the district will be left with those who couldn’t work elsewhere. Is that what you really want for the kids of Brenham? As a parent, I say NO!
The teachers in Brenham do so much work besides teaching that other districts have auxiliary and specialized staff for. There should be more than one instructional coach on each campus for all subject areas. In addition to this all of your classroom teachers are expected to do all of the ESL teaching and do not have additional staff members to assist during extension time as other districts do. They are having to complete all of the state required paperwork, where other districts have an entire department that completes state data & forms for them. In addition to the ESL staff, Brenham also does not have as many reading interventionists either. The entire organization and allotment of funds is grossly and unfairly distributed. I’m sure you can look at the Athletics programs and find plenty of money there.
The bottom line is that BISD needs to pay the teachers what they deserve no matter what the cost. The kids and their education is worth it!
I hope the superintendent knows what he walked into. It sure is a situation of never want to be in.
You should request an explanation be published, in writing, of the method Brenham ISD uses when they refer to the”midpoint raise” calculation on raises for existing employees. Also, there is a “teacher pay schedule” on the Brenham ISD website. How does that relate to current employees versus new employees? There may also be differences for employees hired to do the same job. They could be differentiated by scales or grade. One could be a carpenter at one scale, and a carpenter with more experience paid more.
So If the starting salary is $40,014 for a new teacher then why is my wife still at $38,000 after being a teacher in the district for three years?? Kids are being taught that we are all equal so why would she not immediately go to that pay scale? Would she have to quit and be rehired to start at that salary? People this is why we are losing our teachers. A new teacher in her school is making more than her and she has been there for 3 years. Are you saying she is not equal to that new teacher? This is why she is currently seeking employment elsewhere. This district has MANY problems!!!! When I started my career seniority meant something!!!!