001Everyone, it is uh 5:00 p.m. 5:01 p.m. Uh, a meeting has been called to order. The notice of the meeting has been posted in a matter of required by law. We do have a forum here this evening. We're missing trustees Thompson and Paris. I believe they both may join us a little bit later. So, uh, we will get started. Please, uh, stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance. >> Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Now the Texas flag. >> Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. >> Please remain standing for the invitation led this evening by Trustee Russell. >> Please bow
002your heads. Heavenly Father, we come before you with gratitude for the opportunity to serve our community and its children. Grant us wisdom and understanding as we consider the needs before us, especially in the stewardship of the resources entrusted to our care. Guide our decisions so they reflect justice, compassion, and commitment to the common good. Help us to act with integrity, to listen with openness, and to work together in a spirit of unity and respect. Bless our schools, our teachers, our families, and especially our students that they may grow in knowledge, character, and purpose. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. >> Be seated. Let the record show that both trustees Thompson and Harris have joined us this evening. Um, I don't believe we have any public comments, so I will turn it over to
003Dr. Jackson. Sir, >> good evening, board president Martin, and to all of the uh, board trustees. We thank you all for being here. And uh just a couple of things to kind of frame the conversation tonight. And um certainly I will not be leading this workshop. This is a excuse me a workshop for the board and uh our chief financial officer Stacy McDall and our executive director of human resources Miss Paula Jackson will take take the lead in this. And um but the board compensation workshop is a critical component of the district's governance and strategic planning process. One of the board of trustees and district administration's most important responsibilities is to ensure the development of a fair, competitive and equitable compensation plan for the staff who play a vital role in supporting student growth and
004achievement. The purpose of this workshop uh as we all know is to review current compensation structures, explore available options, and engage in thoughtful discussion regarding potential adjustments if there are any needed. Through this process, the administration seeks clear direction and informed recommendations from the board of trustees to guide the development of the compensation plans moving forward. These discussions are essential as the district works to build a responsible and sustainable budget that aligns with its mission and vision. Every decision that we make will be grounded in the district district's unwavering commitment to excellence, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to reach their highest potential. What I like about this board and what I respect about this board is that what we do is always with the student uh mind and student focused and student centered
005and we do appreciate this and I do believe the Leaport community appreciates this as well as the staff as reflected in our vision. Every student success remains our top and number one priority and the work undertaken in this workshop tonight is fundamental to advancing that goal and we do appreciate you board for being here. uh all of the trustees and uh we will now turn it over to our executive director of human resources, Paula Jackson. >> Good evening. Good evening, uh President Martin and board of trustees and uh Dr. Jackson and all of our team. Um like Dr. Jackson said, "We're we're here to just present to you some ideas, some facts, some data um on uh some things that you can consider for the 2627, yeah, 2627 school year. It's kind of hard to
006believe we're there. Okay, so uh our discussion topics for tonight are um our special education program PARS. That's kind of where we'll start. Um then we'll look into PAR professional salary and district comparisons. starting teacher salaries and we have some district comparisons for that. Um we'll talk about the teacher retention aotment which was u as you you remember from last year with house bill 2 um and how it affected our teacher pay scale and kind of the the information about that. Um we'll talk about salary increase history for Leaport ISD and then just some possibilities and some scenarios for um for next school year and what those would look like. Um along with your um slides that you have there that we're going to go over, we also provided you with kind of a I
007guess a note-taking page. Um it's two pages stapled together. Um this just has our major talking points and then kind of a a box or some space for you to take notes, write down any questions that you may have that come up. Um certainly you're welcome to stop us at any time and ask questions, but sometimes you're thinking of things and you know you're thinking of ideas or um like I said questions that you may just want to jot down and then we can just you know entertain those and and look into those as needed. Um so use that if you'd like. If you don't if you don't need it that's fine. We just wanted to provide you with um somewhere you could some jot down some notes. All right. So moving right into it.
008We're going to start with our um special education program para profofessionals um just to provide you with some uh just baseline data of those positions. Um remember our program paras are those that work in our special programs with our highest need students. Um these are uh our adult transition pair professionals that work with our 18 plus program, our early childhood special education program that work with our our young students and then our other program pairs that are housed on the campuses are our focus uh which is our life skills uh classes, our BSP which is those uh behavior um students with behavior plans and then our sales sale program from for students with uh autism. So you can see um we just broke down how many employees we have in those specific positions. Um focus
009being our biggest, you know, we we we have a pretty large program there at mo at at most of our campuses. Um and then you can see the breakdown 64 total employees um that work work work for Leaport ISTD in those positions. And then over on the right hand side, um we've just kind of gone through starting back in 2012 2013 school year of compensation changes that have that have occurred um with you with you your all um support and approval of uh payraises or or or even pay grade changes um that have occurred over that. So you can you can see the changes there. Um, so even back in 2012, our minimum was for that paygrade was $94. So we've we've come a long way. Um, now, uh, and we'll talk a little bit
010more about about what those um, uh, pays are on the next page. But just focusing back on last year for the 2425 school year, um, last year the board uh, approved a $500 stipen for all program paras. Um and so that that stipend was paid last year to those individuals who were employed in those positions. Um $250 at this uh December break and then the other $250 was paid out at the end of the school year. And we got great feedback on that. Um we even uh for for the the parameters of that stipen were, you know, you had to be employed for for the semester. you know, you couldn't you couldn't be employed in August and quit and and then be paid out in December. It didn't work that way. You had to be
011a be a um a continued employee with us. Um but what we did do was, you know, for of course our employees that started with us in August, they were of course paid the full amount, but you know, with with PAR professionals, we we have vacancies all year long. And so we always want to fill those. And so part of attracting um applicants even in September, October, even in November um when needs arise, you know, they were still uh they still benefited from that stipen, not the full amount, but it was prrated. Okay. So, we worked with um our our staff in our office and with payroll to make sure that those individuals did benefit from the stipen, just not the full amount if they weren't employed with us for the whole time, as you
012would would understand. Um same thing in the spring semester. Um so so that those people were acknowledged and and did get that part of that stipened. >> This parah average that's on here that is just for this category that we're talking about all >> uh when you say average are you >> you're >> are you are you >> oh I've already No, that's okay. That's okay. We'll get we'll get there. We'll get there. >> Yeah, she's reading ahead. Love it. Love it. Okay. So, now uh moving forward to this current school year, um that stipen with the the the increase uh the 5% increase for um the uh approved stipens was increased to $525. So, um we paid out that first half of that in December and we will pay out the second half of
013that in at the end of the school year. And so, >> who like gets every all 64 get that stip? >> Yes, sir. all all 64 and that are employed in those categories get that stipened. Okay. Okay. Now we'll now we'll talk about pair professional salaries. Um we'll kind of start over on the left side with the district comparisons. Um so we uh participate in our TASBY salary studies. Um we have several salary studies that we do in our department but one of them is is um our personnel stip a personnel salary stipen. So all the different jobs that we have in the district we we we put in data um for that survey and then and then when we when we do that we receive the data back for all the other districts who
014have um participated in that survey. And so you can just you can see we've we've got um I don't know 10 or so districts including Leaport ISD as far as their program paraprofessionals. So this this data for us is our program paras that I just showed you on the previous slide. And then for the other districts it is their program paras also. It wouldn't include like an ISS parah or uh uh PE parah or other other other paras that that work in a different pay grade. Okay. So this is just program paris for our district and for other districts. So you can see that Leaport where Leaport ISD is. What I want to just you know kind of draw your attention to and and you can see this but um just to to bear for
015the crowd that um you can see that the student enrollment for all of the districts that we're comparing ourselves to. You know we're we're a a small beacon of light in a in in a large community of of of of districts. And so, um, you know, we we feel like we're very competitive with our salary. That's our beginning salary for that pay grade, $14.31. Um, but you can see the the districts around us, their enrollment is is twice as much, three times as much, you know, so so those bigger districts, even even some of those bigger districts, we're our our starting pay is is more. Um but you know if in in some of these larger districts um you know they're employing more people they're they're tax base whatever the the the reasons are you
016know they have they have more students um and so we're we're a 5A in a in a in a 6A pool if that if that makes sense. Yes sir. Do we get that's a tough question but do we get paid additional uh income essentially by having like for a sp student >> so we like so my understanding I don't thought it's important so we get more money for a sp student than we do for like a quote unquote nonsped student >> we pay less money >> so over on the right hand side you see um what we did was We um calculated Stacy did this for us. She calculated the average hourly rate for our program paras that are employed with us because while some are hired in at the beginning salary if they if
017they don't have any experience many of our paras and and a lot of them do come to us with experience that we can give them salary credit for and we look at that uh when we're doing a hiring recommendation and we we we we get that recommendation from the campus for a focus parah or ECSE or whatever the uh program parah as with all of our jobs. We look at their resume. We look at their application. We we look at their job like experience and we want to give them as much credit that as we can. You know, we we don't overdo it and we don't make up things to give them credit for. We would never do that. But we, you know, we we look at their job experience in those roles. You know,
018have they worked with students? Have they worked with with special education students? We look at all those things and we make them the most competitive offer that we can. So what I was saying to that is is not all of our paras are brought in and currently paid at $14.31. That's just our beginning salary. Um so you can see that most of our paras, you know, they're our average is $16.54 per hour. And that also includes that $525 stipen, you know, plus they're also if if they've been with us and they're they're eligible for uh if there's a board approved raise, they're also eligible for that as well. So, you know, when you're just looking at the um minimum salary, that wouldn't be the case for most of our most of our program pairs unless
019they joined us with no experience. And then we just uh made a note there of our paygrade three. This is where our program paras are currently. They work 187 days um just like our teachers do. And then you can see the minimum, the midpoint, and the maximum pay structure for for that uh pay grade. Okay. Okay. Now, we'll move over just to some historical information about our teacher salaries. Um you can see uh and and we provided this information to you last year but we've now added you know for the 2526 school year. So you can see the 10 tenure historical on the left hand side for our teacher starting salaries. This is again for a starting teacher that has zero years of experience. Um a couple of years ago we implemented our teacher pay
020scale. So it's consistent and even for, you know, if we're hiring a teacher with 5 years of experience, this, you know, the amount on the salary scale that's published in our compensation plan is is the salary that they're given. Um, and so forth. So you can see from 2016, you know, our starting teacher salary has gone up a a little over $10,000, currently sitting at $63,000 for first year first year teacher beginning with no experience. And then on the right side, you see our salary comparisons. Much like we did for our pair professionals, we've we've kind of listed out the districts, their enrollment size, how many teachers they have, and then what their zeroyear salary is. So, you can see that with some of our neighbors who have double what our student population is, we're
021very competitive um with with those districts that we we tend to compete with. Um what I will say is you know as we as we talk to applicants and we're onboarding um teachers and and professionals and and whoever you know all the people that we hire um particularly our teachers when they come in and do their onboarding you know we we we go in and we meet them we sit and talk to them tell them how glad we're we are that they're joining us in Leaport ISD and what we hear from what we hear from them is you whether they've been in a larger district or you know Maybe they're moving and they're this is their first time here. What they love about Leaport is it's a small community. It's a one high school town.
022It is personalized. They feel like that that they they're just already wowed with how much people already know them, want to get to know them, and want them to be a part of their campus culture. And so, um, you know, is our salary competitive? Yes. But there are other um extrinsic factors that go along with that that are special and unique to Leaport ISD that we're so proud of and and we love to hear that from our applicants. Um just what we did at the bottom was just to kind of give you our average teacher based salary. So again, just like with our pair professionals, not all of our teachers come in at zero years and are hired in at 63. Some come in with 10 years, some 20, 25, 15, you know, it it
023varies. So, our average teacher salary for this school year is $72,785. And then if you look at, you know, sometimes when you look at a an annual salary, you think, well, you know, a few thousand might make a big difference. And it does. You know, we every penny counts, right, in today's economy and and with with prices of things today. Um, but we kind of broke it down just to see, well, how much difference does it really make and and is that a factor for for people? Um, and so we looked at Alvin ISD who has the highest beginning salary at 658 and we just kind of did like a daily rate and what is the difference per day and it worked out before taxes to about $14 a day. So really by the time
024you take taxes out and your TRS and all the things, you know, it's it's it's I'm not going to say insignificant because every dollar counts, but um again with with some of the other factors that Leaport has going for us, um we we feel like it's uh >> offsets that >> it it offsets that um in a large way. Okay. Okay. On the next page, um you have uh just some additional earning opportunities for for teachers. Um along with that that that salary that we just talked about, um we have our master's and doctorate agenda which are $1,000 each. So if a if a if a teacher has a master's degree and or a doctorate degree, we do award them um $1,000 additional for each of those. And that that is applied every year. um
025as they're employed with us. We have ESL certifications, UIL stipens. You know, these are just a few examples. We have, you know, in our supplements in the back of our compensation plan, we have hundreds of stipens and and extra duty pays for different things. Um athletics, academic, um you know, th those are those are uh available for for those who who qualify for those. Um we also again are a TIA eligible district and that is a great selling point um and a recruiting tool for our teachers. Um this year we've already hired um I believe I know for sure one teacher who's coming to us as a designated teacher from another district. Um but we've already hired some uh last year too that you know it's on their certificate so we can see if they're
026a TIA designated teacher um if they have one of those designations. Um but our teachers that are currently with us um if you recall last year was our first year for our TIA data data collection. And so we're in the process this year of doing our first payout and we're going to have 29 teachers across the district who will receive a payout um in August. They'll receive that payout and some of those amounts are very substantial and so we're we're eager to to share that information with them. Of course, we're in year two now of data capture. So, we will have even more teachers next year at this time who will be finding out their allotments um should they should they uh meet those requirements. You know, TIA was not designed for every teacher, although
027we would love for every teacher to to benefit from that. Um, but our our teachers who who have who have uh been designated are are going to certainly uh we're certainly proud of them. already know who they are. >> They know that they are a TIA designated teacher and they they know that they've uh been been recommended for a designation and we're in the process of working through that those final pieces of uh ensuring the the amounts and things like that. Okay. And then you can just see on the right hand side the uh district comparisons for those additional um master's degree, doctorate, and that sort of thing. Okay, any questions on that? Okay, thank you so much. And now Stacy's going to come up and continue uh the remainder of the presentation. Good evening
028or good afternoon almost. We're still this is early for us, right? Um so we're going to we're going to jump in and speak about the teacher retention aotment. So this was part of the 89th legislation legislative session that created uh this teacher retention aotment during our it was a part of our house bill too that had many different things a part of it but that this is one that was very beneficial to our teachers and for all districts in the state of Texas. So what the teacher retention aotment is is teachers with zero to two years experience they did not they do not qualify to receive these this funding um because again in the name of it it's retention we want to the state's goal was to award and honor the teachers that have stayed
029with the teaching profession. We go to teachers with three to four years experience. They received $2,500. teachers with five plus years experience receive $5,000 of a TRA increase. That $2,500 and that $5,000 is above their 2425 salary. So the state said, "Okay, as of 2425, whatever your base your salary is, not including any stipens, whatever your your base pay is, depending on your years of service, you're going to move receive the 2500 or you're going to receive the 5,000. So this is not an additional 2500 or 5,000 for this year. We paid this out in 26 2526. So this past year they all benefited from this this increase. It is not a next year they're going to get another 2500 or 5,000 on top of what they're getting. They're they've already received it. They're going
030to continue to receive it. It's in their salary forever. we're not going to take it away even if the state goes and says we're no longer funding this because they're only funding it for two years until the next legislative session. But I I believe in my heart >> I I believe that they will too. And I also believe that Leaport is is will always stand to do what's right for our teachers and we will not pull something like that away from them if we have the the capacity to do that. >> So pretty much the they just moved the scale up. Everybody's scale one in 5,000 five year plus everybody below five years >> and they're paying for it. >> We are getting an aotment for that. It's not coming out of our our funds.
031So yes, so the teacher pay scale that we created a couple years ago um was adjusted to accommodate the TRA increase so that going forward when HR hires someone who is seven years experience that $5,000 is already in it's already a piece of it. So, is uh >> the teachers with three to four years experience once they hit five, are they going to get an extra $2,500? >> Yes, sir. >> I'm sorry. >> No, you're great. You You are on the roll. He's in it. >> We're we're going to touch on that. I have I have four different scenarios that we're going to walk through to explain what that means. And that is exactly one of them. And the answer is yes. I'm going to give you a little uh thing. So, if we move
032on to um this is the teacher pay scale and this is how it was built. So if you see on the the left here, I'm sorry, on the right left, we have our years of experience. Um, and then our next column is this is what our teacher salary scale was for the 2425 years. So if we just take the years experience of zero in 21 in 2425, the base salary was $61,000. The board approved last year to increase that by $2,000. So it became 63. So as you can move on then you have year 3 in 2425 the base salary was uh 62,200 plus the 2500 which 2,000 of that was your increase but also the 500 to get to the allotment and that um gives us a a starting salary for a teacher with
033three years experience of 64,700. If you go down to the five years, it was 63,000 as in 2425. Adding that 5,000 now starting teachers pay at 68,000 with 5 years experience. So, um read my notes real quick. So, it benefits when a teacher is here longer. Obviously, their their raises is built into it just as Paula had mentioned. So, this is the starting salary. This is the least amount a teacher in Leaport ISD is going to make. This is not the I'm making this. This is if they come into the district, they can go and look at this and say, "Okay, 10 years experience, I should be making at least $70,000. This is what we're going to offer you is 70,000." Somebody who's been with Leaport for 10 years is making much more than $70,000
034because they've benefited for every raise that the board has approved and and provided. Moving on, we're going to go to our four uh examples here. So, this is just going to walk through. So, we have a teacher who is uh teacher number one is 0 to two years experience and they're hired in uh with Leaport ISD. And so, they're going to go HR is going to go to the pay scale and say, okay, 0 years 6,300 or 63,000, two years because our steps are $400. That's how we built it. Whenever we created the teacher pay scale step and presented it to y'all, I believe it was two years ago, maybe three. Two years ago, that's what the board decided we would have a $400 step between years. Um, teacher number two moves from two years
035to three years. So, that $2,500 is going to be a part of it. So, now their pay scale is 64,700 because again, their 2425 year was 62200. So you add this 2500 and that moves forward. Now we get to Mr. Shoppy's example. Someone who a teacher who is next year is going to move from four years to five years. They are going to get an extra $2,500. Their base pay is going to move up. Um because their starting year salary it was 6,300 but even before they had last year they had the $2,500 built into it. They were given the $2,500. this next year they're if they're moving from years four to years five they're going to move up to another $2,500 this year. >> Yes sir. If we were to hire a teacher like
036Deer Park, >> come over here and have 10 years experience. They automatically start at that 70 or is it they're making a lot more Deer Park. They still get that like how does that work? >> That I they would I believe HR would say, "Okay, our base pay right here is $70,000 and then I don't know. I'm going to let you answer to that." What? >> Right. So that's why we have our scale so that we're consistent across the board. You know, generally if someone came 20 years, 10 years, what whatever it is, it's usually pretty common on races that that district has given or if maybe they were receiving stipens, you know, as part of their stipens here. Very rarely is there like such a big discrepancy someone there's not a lot of discretion
037right but is there discretion like if you're like for an administrator like they don't >> we don't have it's pretty rigid I guess as I understand it for like a teacher but for administrative team they come in from another district there's more leeway is that we we yes we've worked with I've been here years I've been here now all even when Angie was here they're going to come to me if there's if It's that tight. We're going to we're not going to allow somebody to make less money. We're not going to do that right now. We're not going to we're not going to tip the scale to where somebody that's been here for 20 years feels like now somebody just beat me at the game, but we're not going to lose a great employee for
038$500 or $1,000 or something like that. So, but generally speaking, we can we can almost tap into what the actual true salary is without all the stipens because TASBY helps us. Yes. To provide that. We can go into Tasby and kind of look up basically what a base salary is. So if somebody says I'm coming in XYZ and we say wait a minute that doesn't sound right. you can just go to TASBY and kind of fill out there may be that may be so because of the additional stipens right >> the NHS but it's not salary and so we're paying salary and then a lot of times we will help make certain that somebody if they're coming in to coach or they're coming in to >> but someone coming in at 10 >> this year
039would also get this other 5,000 >> No they're not that it's built in that 70,000 is already it's not 757 them. >> What the state has given them follows them. >> Yes, >> that was a good I'm sorry. >> Go ahead. >> That was a good point because this remember this was a Texas state a statewide house bill 2 applied to all districts. So it wasn't an option. And so if they're coming to us from another district, they've already got that >> that salary is just >> extra money embedded into their salary. I just I guess might want to get at is more of a question because I don't I don't know the answer, but it seems to be like when we had our curriculum discussion a couple weeks ago. Um the idea was get
040on the same page because some of the new teachers don't have kind of level of training that teachers had 10 years ago, 15 years ago. So if we're just recruiting and have to hire the majority of our new hires are coming like seems to me like I'd rather have somebody from another district or seasoned veteran. But if what I'm getting at if it's they're not going to get a comparable salary to switch from Deer Park or or Clear Creek or wherever it is, why would they come here? And if you're saying it's not an issue, okay, but like I'm just curious where all going to be like first year teachers. >> We have a percentage wise like we are 100 teachers. How many of them are brand new? >> We can get that for you.
041We we can get that for you. But I can I can answer that question without looking at Stacy or Paul. We're not losing anybody behind salary. We we're just not, you know, if they really want to work in Leaport once they get to HR and principal likes them or we like them, we're going to make sure we make it right. But we also are going to respect people that have already been in the system so that we don't tip the scale the wrong way. But really our our districts, especially at that level, they're all comparable. They really are. They're all comparable. >> He's really talking about from the attractions. How are we attracting that? >> Are we really I mean Okay. So hiring anybody anywhere you're at, you are going to pay you're going to
042pay for the years you have, but you're wanting more experience if you can get it. You're not going to get that more experience, you know, budget wise. You're going to pay you're like, "Oh, I'm trying to fit a budget, so I'm going to pay for this teacher instead of this." >> We're banking on that. >> Want to make sure how are we attracting that? >> Yeah, we're banking on that $14 being engaged with the intangible part of culture of the district. >> And we also pay for some of their benefits, too. So we that is a that is >> that's a draw >> a draw. I mean you know that we actually do that and I think we establish the only district around that >> we are the pay as much as we do. >>
043So >> and I would say also smaller class sizes because typically in Leort our class sizes are not I mean that's not all the time. I I understand that but >> but it is most of the time. >> Say we spent a lot of time we want to get top-notch administration. We love that. You are amazing. you've done a great job with that. But I again I'm not saying that this is the case, but if you guys have leeway to hire top-notch administrators and have some some wiggle room. Obviously, we're still constrained. Nobody's getting paid to bring >> but if you'll have more leeway there, I would like to I mean it'd be nice if we had some more leeway. And you're saying we kind of gathering somewhat do >> uh to hire like top-notch
044teachers. Are >> you saying negotiating? >> Yeah. Like so if if that's what I'm getting if there's any negotiating >> Jeff, you got a background in that and I know where you're coming from with that. Here's what I'll say. Paula and Stacy not going to do that. They're going to bring that to me and I'm going to make a decision based on, you know, who this person is, where they're coming from, and we're not losing good people. And I'll tell y'all for for just for the record, this year we're not certainly having that issue at all because school districts are laying people off. >> Thank you. >> And so really, we're not hiring a whole lot of brand new leaders. We're we're able to go and >> for the lack of a better word, hire
045from other districts right now, seasoned veteran leaders, and we can we can share with you some names of some folks that are coming from other places that have been main stays in those districts for years, but they've been given a pink slip or been been told you're going to do something next year differently. So, we're able to get some really solid people, but we're not going to lose good folks over $1,000. >> Okay? We're not going to do that. We have conversations all the time about >> positions and you know and >> but we're careful with that because again we need to respect people that's been in this district for 20 years and they make this you know we just have to be careful with it but we we are very careful with that but
046we don't lose good people behind $500 and we won't >> So one one other um additional thing that I wanted to say is this was the first year for TRA. So, um it is being audited greatly like deep in depth. Our a our interm audit our auditors were here the past two weeks. Um I will I'm very happy to say it was extremely clean. This is Haley's first audit. She came in and uh and did a great job. And so, but it's they were really impressed because we they they took so many samples and we were proving every single time this is what their pay was last year. This is with us because to earn this to TRA you have to be a teacher who is in the classroom for four hours a day teaching.
047You also have to have the years of experience and so to and that has to be audited and it was kudos to the HR department because they had all of their documents lined up. This is how this is this is how the the years of service are are um calculated. So um I I say that to say with transparency and just also with debt integrity that the way that we are paying this TRA out being at the very first year our auditors were extremely happy and they were can you call this district can we use this to show them absolutely they have our teacher pay scale and they're using it as examples to other districts of how this is how it should be. >> Good job. >> Yeah. Well, it's not. I'm just saying for
048but yeah, I'm I'm very pleased for that. Um, are there any other questions on this before I move forward? >> Okay. So now we're going to look at our teacher, not our teacher, this is our salary increase history for all employees because um there's been few times back uh a couple years ago where certain classifications of of employees received different uh increases. But for the most part recently uh the past couple years it's it's been the board has chosen to give a salary increase to all employees and not just certain st certain different uh categories of employees. So for the past four years, the board has given 12% of of increase in a 5% increase in in stipens. And so that is um that that's huge especially right now when I'm in conversations with all
049the the CFOs in region 4 and we're emailing we have a list who is doing what who is happening in what everyone's having these conversations right now but the most I've heard is most are doing stipens most are doing there's some that are doing nothing and then you have some that are one and then a very very few that are doing two% That's that's that's what's happening right now in our region. But I wanted to provide this to you so you can have a um a a a clear understanding of what when we say a a a teachers pay or employees pay has been uh the longer they're here the more they benefit. So now we will move forward into what a cost for Leaport ISD if if it's a 1% 2% or a 3%
050raise. Uh these are the options that we provided last year and so we just thought we'll go ahead and do this. It's a little higher this year because when we uh the board has chosen that when we give a salary in the four days to give us a salary they give it based on the salary. when they give a raise, they give it based on the salary versus on the midpoint to again award and honor the longevity of employees. Um, so because you gave a 4% raise last year, thank you for from all employees, it actually increased up, you know, so it it's now I think last year was $550,000 per uh 1%. Now it's 575. So it's just a compounds as you go forward uh because raises do not go away. they stay with
051the employee. So we have um 1100 1161 employees and a thousand of those are paid out of the general fund. Then we have 140 that are paid out of of other funds, grants, so forth, child nutrition, those types of things. So but we don't give to one group of employees of that's paid out of one fund. We give to all employees in the district. And so, uh, a 1% with just what would hit the general fund budget would be an increase of 575,000. Um, then again, a 2% would be a 1.2 million and a 3% would be 1.7. Again, it compounds as you go forward and it it stays with the district and stays with our budget. It has to be built in our budget every year going forward. We also have um we were
052asked to give for a onetime stipen. What would that look like? And you will see because we have a thousand we gave a,000 uh 1,500 and a $2,000 options. We can do any options that you would like us to calculate. These were the ones that um we provided last year. So as you can see, we have a th000 employees. So therefore, it would cost a million dollars. And then as you go forward up, the way this is a one-time, so therefore it is not compounded in the future. This is a one-time payment of here is let's just say a 1% I mean $1,000 stipen. It's going to hit this next year's budget one time. Um for it to be TRS eligible, it has to be paid in two different installments. So because it has to
053be for work that has been completed. So it would be uh paid in January for July through December 31st and would pay be paid in June for January through May and it would be split in half. And that's that if it's TRS eligible, that means it's that stays with the employees gross pay for their retirement purposes. Um however, it won't stay with the district going forward. for the average teacher $1,000 more than they raise. Yes. >> Just to be clear, uh is you say number of employees. This is just salaried employees. >> No, this is every this is every this is not including substitutes. >> But this is every employee that um is either hourly or salary. Yes, sir. Is there any questions on this page? And that is really the the topics that you
054the board asked us to cover. So we're we are available and happy to answer anything that we can for you. >> So we'll entertain any questions you have or recommendations or thoughts based on all the information you received tonight. >> We're going to do anything as far as something for all employees. I would like to see salary for a while. I think the master elevating them the pro spec the program specifically. I I would like to explore the idea of putting them in their own pay grade. I know in the past when we've talked about um giving the pair the those particular pairs a a raise, the conversation went to well, we would have to give everyone in the pay grade. And I just think it would be it seems more reasonable to have this
055this group of people in their own pay grade because what they do is so different. You know, it's toileting. It's it's getting you know there's things that go along with that that some of the other people that are in that particular pay grade don't won't it would be I mean I know I don't know that a lot of other districts do that but it would be something that I think us have that conversation when talk about giving >> notice that of of all the ones I have in my life, I couldn't find this one and it was driving me crazy. >> But Karen, if I may just just ask, you know, um is there something specific because last year we took care of programs, >> did not take care of everybody. Am I correct? We've
056had not we gave them a stipen gave them a stipen but I just you know looking at what the our neighboring districts are paying and I understand they're larger districts but if I'm a pure professional making $14 an hour and I can go to Pasadena making >> that slide >> whatever it is or something >> I I I am not trying to rationalize why the port's paying less. I just know I need to make and so I just I just feel like that 999 those are and and we and I know I'm preaching to the choir. Y'all all know this. Those are those are positions sometimes it's hard for us to keep and I realize that it's it's you know it's hiring work. You you people always say you've got to really it takes a
057special person and it it really does and they're not just at every corner. So you know just whatever we can do and that population's grow and which means we need more of >> yeah we may >> so that's just >> and I would also note that >> experienced yes >> 2324 the minimum in that pay grade was 143 2425 it was 143 2526 it was 143 so we haven't adjusted that >> we gave them a stipen last year instead of >> and and part of that conversation was >> part of that conversation was because they would have to give everyone in that pay grade that raise and that's why I'm asking >> a lot more people. >> Yes. If we could explore putting those pay grade that we can >> maybe a 3A and a
0583B. >> Well, if we put them in our at their own pay >> I don't know. Yeah, I would doubt that that's >> let let us let us let us explore putting them into a pay grade and then >> looking at what kind of like what we did tonight. Give you a couple of examples of what one might add something since we're talking about personal care primarily if that's what I'm understanding. Um, I think that we if we were to do something like that, perhaps we would take BCSC and focus and make them their own because BSP and sale are not doing >> that's true. They're not doing as much. >> So I Yes, they deal with hard behaviors. No doubt about that. But the personal care piece and I think that that's probably what
059you're going for is as far as the most difficult part of the job. Yes. um in addition to behavior which we know can happen in the life skill setting but that personal care piece is definitely the most difficult and that would be your ECSE and your focus therapist right but in order to make it a cleaner break you're going to have some 187 in this grade grade whatever we call it and then you're going to move some 187s in these 200 that >> you but I want to why they're all in pay grade of these are in pay grade one pay >> I think if we start giving out indiv what I'd like what I'd like for you to allow us to do is to go back and take the recommendations that you have and
060then us to bring something back and we don't have to wait until we come back together as this way I can put something in my board update for you once we get it and it'll just be, you know, executive summary and then you can at least look at it and give me uh individual feedback should you need to. Okay, try to do that. We have like do a the teachers are there is there a max pay grade? >> No. >> Okay, so to me like I guess you like a couple issues the max pay the max they can if I'm reading this correctly they can get $20.17 that's like barely above the starting pay driver. >> So that's a problem for me. Another problem too is >> I don't think we should be proud that
061we're in the bottom third of those nine districts that we compare oursel against >> when we could do better. We only I mean we have 64. >> I don't know how many. So like a in in the recruitment world a full-time employee like 280 hours a year. So how many hours are we like a pair of are these pairs like working? >> Are we talking? >> They work 187 days. >> But how so 187 days? How many hours are that? >> 187 times eight. Anybody? >> I got it. So that's 14. So that's two times two talking about another maybe >> $2,900 uh per pay if we bumped it up to $16 a $2 increase, right? It's going to break our bank. So to me, we every year we get more and more we get
062go back to my other point. We get more money from the state for for special education kids of which every year you all told us that that population is rapidly increasing. So these teachers, if I would work in the school district, God bless anybody does how hard it is. I'd want somebody that is a proficient, good-hearted person. I don't care if you're like what's focused any of them. Like that is a very difficult job as is being a teacher, but I if I was a teacher, I'd want somebody that's competent, not somebody that like you can go make more money right now at McDonald's starting pay. That's just a reality of the world that we live in, right? So, if we can fix I know we want to save money, but like I don't think
063this is the the best opportunity for us to save money. We talk about this every single year at Nauseium. And the $525 that equates to 40375 a month. That is does nothing. That pays for a third of my gas bill. >> And and I'm not arguing with you, Jeff, but that's what the board recommended. >> No, I'm saying I I'm just tell like for me now I tell I do not recommend that. I think it's embarrassing that we're in the bottom third of this this chart right here. It's embarrassing that the most they can get is 20 bucks an hour. That's sad. So can I >> well the other thing Jeff to even further that is that we haven't made any adjustments to any of these era. >> Everybody else in this room can get
064a max pay. We had Mike Lawson working for 95 years and get and God bless him for that but like >> every year he could build up and these guys get tapped at 20 plus. That's not adjusted the pay rate three years. >> And then we we're going to take your recommendations and we're going to bring you some we're going to bring you some ideas. Bring some numbers. So I'm bringing some numbers back. >> Yes. So I think when you're looking at that mid max, you think max they're that they can never make over 20. >> Absolutely not. >> That it continues on. Again, as y'all give raises, as y'all whatever, you have employees that are making much more than the $20. >> So that's what I'm confused about then. So that's like max is
065when someone is hired in. This is a hiring schedule. >> That's a hiring schedule. >> This is not what this person just to be clear. If we're paying 1431 and that's our mid min midm max and Alvin is paying 1520, their min midm max is going to be larger than ours. >> But we own that. We will own that. We haven't moved that minimalist. We can we can we can certainly deal with that. >> But I mean we made that choice. I'm not saying we didn't touch it. >> I'm just saying look when you look at it all in front of you, it's like wow. It was a poor decision, but >> I feel like we need to start looking at because again, like I said earlier, and I think Jeff and I are saying
066the same thing >> is that if I'm a pair professional and I can go to to Pasadena and make $16, you know, $2 or Well, gosh, >> we could all go work at Becky's, right? They make all that money. I would I mean I just feel like we need to be a little more competitive because we have an excellent special education program here in this district and there's a there's a billboard somewhere that says so and and I I mean it's one it's a great reputation that we have and because of that we get a lot of people purposely moving to our district because they have students special education. We need to make sure that we live up to that and and that is a hard as I've said before that's a very difficult job
067the personal care and I mean, it's um it's hard to keep people doing something like that if they not I mean, they love the kids. >> They're not all there just for the money, but boy, a lot of them can't afford to live if they don't make a little >> We just want to be competitive, >> right? And the purpose of the night is for you to give us those recommendations. So, what will happen is we'll go back and we'll go sit down and and work through this and these people will make that happen and Billy will help with some of that. And I think uh the the recommendation you made about EC uh focus ECSE and focus we'll we'll we'll do that and what I'll do is provide that to you in an executive
068summary so we don't have to wait until there's another public meeting I can communicate with the board in an executive summary and then you can give me feedback individual feedback on yes I think this is great I think this is still needs to be and we'll we'll work through that and then the next time we come together in a public setting maybe we will already have kind of hammered some of these things out for you right we're not trying to short change anybody, but we also are trying to do everything we can to kind of keep things at bay so that we can continue to move forward as >> I will say that one of these neighboring districts, I'm not going to say the name, >> had something on social media the other day trying
069to hire pair of professionals and said their starting salary was almost $2 chart says. And let me tell you, get your popcorn and go read the comments because everybody in that district, those neighbors, those citizens were saying, "We have all this money and this is what we pay people. How can they pay their rent? How can they whatever?" Like they were getting I'm thinking I bet they sad they ran that because all it did was backf >> Yeah. Don't run that >> cuz I love that we were we >> It was rough. We have put so much time, energy, and effort, dollars into our facilities. We are top-notch across the board. We We built the most expensive stadium in the state, right? So, and that's you and I know we know that's never money. I
070get it. But like it would be really nice to set the tone and the leader in something outside of facilities. >> Agree. >> That I don't care what it is. This is this is the one that we just talk about every single year. >> Let's be the trailblazer. >> Why can't we just And as soon as we set that tone, I understand we're going to like somebody's going to come and pass us up. But we talk about every year starting teacher pay. We got to be competitive. We got to, you know, keep up with the Joneses. We never talk about keeping up with the Joneses with this. That's what I don't understand. >> And I just have a quick question for Billy. I know at the adult at the bridge, the adult transition, some of
071the adults that move over there also need probably want to include them as well. >> They are part of it. >> Okay. Yes, ma'am. >> I maybe you and I can separately. I just really have a hard time. I mean, again, I know that special that personal care requires a lot, but I know some students who are after possible. So I just I think the whole that's probably why I love them all together you know fall into multate especially our littles you know in the behaviors and the sale and behaviors the littles >> I just want to understand >> need a lot more of that oneonone as we do such a good job by the time they get to the high school really they are a little more self-sufficient we're really just pretty much monitoring
072it's rare that we're having to really get in there and but when they're little, we're trying at that point, it's hands-on. We're trying to teach them the behaviors in order for them to be successful. So, I think that's why I kind of wanted to let them all in one. >> We we will have a very uh strong conversation about that. Uh tomorrow, beginning tomorrow, I said next week or so, you have executive summary outlines what we're trying to do and then you can give us additional feedback. But I think and I and and what we may do is do an aggressive option and a not so aggressive option. Is that fair Jeff sir and board? An aggressive option and a not so aggressive option so you can really have something to say here's here's really
073going there and here's kind of getting us into where we want to go. Right. I do I do want Mason's point to gain traction in terms of I think the stipen in terms of the implications long term are good and it also is a higher net return for the employees on that rather than the one% >> what what is the board's wishes on stipen one two one and a half 500 tell us what you want us to >> staff are we assuming a 1% >> well I'm just I'm just asking you know we we tried to shoot low So that at least you have somewhere to start. You know, >> so many people I've talked to are not doing absolutely nothing. I know that's what I'm hearing, too. >> At a certain point, we also
074have to be a good neighbor and realize that if our other neighbors are going to do nothing um or do 1%,000 siphon, then sometimes we have to understand that by year. Hey, let's work on retention here. Let's work on being a good neighbor, not being a salary increase, not being in a salary war, because all that's going to do is triple the rest of our budgets across all of us, all the districts around us. So, we can be a trailblazer some of these aspects. But I think as far as for all the staff, I would like to see a $1,000 siphon. >> I'll be on even >> I would like to Exactly. I need to see like what how much if our interest go 10 or 15%. >> That's what I was just saying. That's
075what I just said. When we know there seems like there's some missing variables to me like >> Well, they are because this is always early, Jeff. You're absolutely right. >> We we always start this process early and we sadly never have all of those those data ready so that we can say here's what it is because this board in the years I've been here has always been very sensitive to the fact that TRS active care may go up and we've tried you've tried to kind of at least meet that, right? because it's it's it's a burden to folks. >> Well, y'all do a pretty good job. I know it's always like a very conservative, right? I get all black about that, but I understand the reason, >> but I would like to see before we
076make any decision and I think the I'm not opposed to stocking, but maybe the dollar amount is what the impact have to our general fund balance. So, that's what insurance we could get as best as we could. >> Yeah. >> So, that it will be at the end of the week. We're hoping May 1st is when it's a lot sooner than it has been in the past. In the past, it's been at the beginning of June. >> We can get it towards the end >> and that can be at the end of May, beginning of June, too. >> Yes. So, yes, once we get that, we will definitely provide that. Um, and I just, you know, the impact to the fund balance is going to be one. Yeah, it's it's either it's going to cost
077a million dollars or, you know, 1.5 million or two million. That's the impact to the fund balance. >> I mean, you'd be getting close. Do you talk to our neighbor superintendent? What are they? What are their boards thinking? >> Our neighbors, you know, we we've all committed to each other that we we would share quietly. We would share what we're thinking. You know, of course, this is a public meeting because you're right, sir. We don't want to get into a a compensation war and a wage war. We really don't. >> Um, some people are being laid off and some folks, you know, we want to take care of our people. That's not what I'm saying. I need my people to hear. We want to take care of our people and and we we're we're going
078to do that as best as we can. But we also don't this is not the year to be bragging. You know, this is the year to kind of take care of your people and right this is the year to take care of your people and be I hate to say that word but conservative as you can be because there are some unknowns with the legislature getting ready to come back in January again. average salary in >> 72,000. >> And I know that this is like what the direct impact, but I mean like as overall picture factor in whatever across the board, like what do we expect if we were to put this say the $1,000 stipen? What does how much would our fund balance go down? It would go down. But like factored in all
079the other things, just taking that as is a one line item thing. I'm want to look at all line items, >> right? if we if we gave >> so like all cart like if I say like well we will we want to have this well then we can't have that. >> Does that make sense? >> Yes it does. And and and and with all due respect tonight we were just really prepared to talk compensation and not the budgetary piece of it. And so that next meeting we're going to have is going to be more where we can show you how and I I can do some of that in the executive summary, but but we we didn't have all of those pieces because tonight I wanted to hear what do you want us to go
080start working on cuz then we can focus on our bottom line. >> I do have to I know I have to apologize because I when I come into this I feel like I have to make a decision right now. I have >> that's not this is just tell us what you want us to start. >> You just we need to see direction. So >> some direction and so we've gotten some of it. >> Yeah, it is hard to work with budgets and different things and you're all the numbers. It is kind of hard to think about it but you will see the number >> but the compensation piece will provide all of that that that vision for us. >> Well, if we're not going to do a $1,000 stipen working those plans and I would
081recommend >> raise or raise or No, we can we just want clarity. So I mean >> it saves the district a little bit and most teachers >> would such a good idea. So you can so instead of doing like a set dollar amount you can do it like that to do a percent. >> If you did a 2% you're saving the district >> Jeff ask that question again because I couldn't >> sorry. No I never thought about that. I every time we've ever talked about stipens is a set dollar amount across the board, right? So what he's proposing is percentage. Like so like last year we did 4%, say we did 4% this year. I'm not proposing this. We did 4% of the stipen. So they get the same raise, but that's not something we're
082on the hook for the next year. Is that a possibility? >> It is a possibility. Yes, >> that makes to me that makes more sense because if I'm a teacher that's been here I'm just throwing this out there. If I'm a teacher that's been here 20 years and I'm a teacher, you know, and I get a thousand and the person that just got here gets a thousand, I could see, >> right? >> But if you could do the percentage, >> it's a bigger dollar amount. It >> It is a bigger dollar amount >> overall. >> But but you're right. We're not >> It says it's 1.3 million. >> We don't have it. >> It just it's it's it's divvied out. >> It's bigger than the 2% for a para is totally different than a 2%
083for a t-shirt. That's the reason why it was a base amount across because you wanted to >> honor the hourly employees >> and it would still have to be about it. absolutely does >> for it to be TRS >> be just like a stipen but we would just calculate it different >> you know but the good thing about >> the thing is the parah is going to get 2% of what >> they're not yeah I I assume there's I can see the >> but aren't you aren't you saying do the stipen if we're going to give them a raise >> he was saying >> I mean a raise >> I was saying if you're not going to do a thousand raise >> I don't benefit um I also what is other what's 199 is >>
084no 199 is general fund other funds are child nutrition >> yeah grants >> but if we adjust it's two different issues if we adjust the pay whatever and then come back in with no >> uh well if It's >> it would depend because >> it would depend >> because if it's a percentage off the salary, it would be based on the 25 26 salary, right? >> Which is the way we've always calculated. >> But then >> they wouldn't get a double dip, >> right? >> That we we would not recommend anyone getting a double dip because that's when you get morale issues. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> I want those out there. Yeah. >> I think it's cleaner to just do an amount on a statement. That way >> sounds like >> the AC person,
085the tech person, the >> whatever >> is on the surface of >> all is all >> sounds good when it came to experience but we start thinking about all the other stuff. >> Just think all means all >> just my two cents and I don't necessarily feel like the need starting today like it hit me today. We've already done a lot of hiring, right? I don't know what the percentage is like where we are now and by the time we do our budget seems like a lot of these people district they already know our starting >> right and so I don't you talk about all the world being crazy so it seems at least to me that should have to adjust the starting page >> and we have not even and we've not made that
086recommendation yet so is still not suggesting starting right now I mean as of right Any anything else board for us? >> Direction. >> We we've got folks taking notes too as y'all are talking. >> We can also listen back if we need >> faces next to >> this is good. This is this is what gives us direction. And the end you guys are right. We have not touched that stuff. >> Gave a percentage stipen increase last year. Correct. >> Yes, we did. that's staying the same on day. >> We recommend that it does because a lot of districts are losing their stipens and so the fact we don't want to get into the situation where we have to take someone's stipen or decrease it by half. >> We're not having to we're not doing anything.
087>> We did five. That's what I know. >> Yeah. So our recommendation is that we would keep that the same and it the teacher pay scale would stay the same. >> Is the masters and doctoral stipens included? >> It's they stayed at 1,002,000. >> Yes. 5% if we did not increase that >> change that >> we get word on the uh the insurance the pay that we >> do not qualif you talking about the uh property insurance we do not qualify because we are one campus outside one campus is on a boundary on the other side of the boundary we needed to have a certain number of dis campuses on this side of the boundary and we were off by one >> park something. >> So would the DA if that were the case DA
088Broadway open for some purpose? >> It would have to be a campus that has a a TEA number like it has to be its own standalone campus. >> Was a standalone campus. >> It was I don't not why I was here. >> It was not that >> I'm not I'm not sure because now it's been three years ago. I'm just wondering like I don't know the numbers behind it like if we currently have that building on our tax money. >> I Kate's not here now but I thought the connected in some way to the high school. Am I correct that would make sense and that's why I didn't want to answer that. I see some folks in >> I think it was the number was connected to the high school because that's how we could
089send a kid there from the high school. Okay. That's how we send our kids from the high school there. Um, >> I'm Whatever it takes, right? Whatever it takes. >> Anything else, board? Anything else that you would like for us to explore, >> investigate for you? >> What are the positions that are are the most hardest to fill at this time? like uh just in any of our parish or any of our do we have bus drivers? Do we have the cafeteria workers have staff? >> Yeah, I mean we typically have some vacancies in all of those areas. Um are you talking about specifically for like manual trades or like teachers? >> Yeah, manual trades and stuff. What are we guess? >> Okay. I mean, bus drivers, you know, we we we we typically have,
090you know, several vacancies in bus drivers. Um, we're doing very well in manual trades right now, like in our maintenance department. Um, just have a couple of vacancies there. We're we're really good staffed on uh or we're really well staffed on custodial right now. Um, I would say I child nutrition, you know, and and they constantly are getting subs in to to go to full-time. Um, I would say bus drivers. That's kind of where we typically, you know, have our most vacancies. Um, >> is there something we need to do differently there or is that just >> I know it is everywhere. And I know some of it >> and part of the variable is it's just really hard to get the CDL. >> I was going to say it's the test. >> Yeah. I'm
091not I'm not negating that, you know, they want more money, but >> it's just hard to get that CDL license. >> And we have a trainer in the department who, you know, we we hire uh we hire bus driver trainees who want to get their CDL. We hire them at a certain rate and then they work towards their CDL and then once they complete that then you know we we bump them up to the to the full bus driver pay and that's been a pretty successful program for us. >> Where do they go to take their CDL? Do we send them over to DPS? >> Did any of those bus technicians? >> We gave them we gave them a bonus. He gave them a stipen. I we can find out. >> I know that we've
092had some completing some classes, but as far as actually completing I can check that. >> What about weren't we looking at smaller buses? So those are those 14 passgers. >> What we're looking to do always? >> Yes. >> RCD. >> So you're going to start driving a bus. >> So we are taking applications. We might pay. >> We're all in. >> How about the district that was going to hire Uber drivers to take their kids to put it out there or not Uber drivers? >> They're going to be a big help, aren't they? >> They will help. >> Yeah, I think that will help. >> They're going to be a big help. >> That'll be helpful. >> Hi, board. I know that uh we have a lot of there's a couple other events going on
093simultaneously tonight. So, if I don't want to cut anybody short, but if you don't have any other questions, Dr. Jackson, do you all the thing you want? >> No, sir. I think we've captured what it is you want us to kind of explore and uh again, we'll get you an executive uh summary uh in the next week or so and then whatever is not what what to your liking, you communicate with me oneonone, right? So that I can work on that. All right. But we think we have some marching orders and then the next time we meet together in a workshop setting, it'll be to discuss budget. And so we'll actually go through some of those line item things that you've talked about and we'll bring some of these things back to you. >> All
094right. We appreciate the opportunity to discuss this tonight. We will now adjourn at 6:12. >> Hey board, y'all look at this. That packet I >> know that's good. Oh my goodness.