001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good evening everyone and welcome. It's time to call this budget workshop {slash} special call board meeting of the San Felipe Del Rio CISD Board of Trustees, the day being Thursday, April 30th, 2026. Mr. Secretary, would you call roll, please? Yes, sir. Mrs. Luna Chavez? Present. Mr. Almaraz? Not here. Mr. Overfelt? He'll be coming here later. Mr. Mesa? Here. Mrs. Wanat Webb? Present. Ms. Haynes? Here. Sir, I am also present, sir. You do have a quorum. Thank you so much. Let the record show that we do have a quorum of board members and that this meeting has been duly called in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. At this [clears throat] time, we will have our special call board meeting first and then we're going to
002reverse the order, so Mr. Overfelt is doing some business at the college, so he'll be here later on. So, we'll start with um the Presentation. board meeting and we'll have opening ceremonies. Before we do that, I just wanted to explain again that we're going to do the workshop after Mr. Overfelt gets here. So, at this time we'll have opening ceremonies first with a moment of silence for personal reflection followed by the pledge of allegiance. Please stand. >> [clears throat] >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. And we >> [clears throat] >> will have First item of business is going to be We don't have any citizens
003signed up. So, we have the consent agenda. There's some purchase items that we are going to be taken care of this year. If there's any questions or if any item needs to be pulled out of the consent agenda, now's the time to do that. Any questions from the board? I just have one, Dr. Rios. On item G1, Red [clears throat] Rover Technologies, is this first time that we have a purchase from Red Rover? Yes, Mr. Mesa. The Red Rover system is intended to replace our ASOP system. Okay, so this is for attendance. Will it do the reports and everything like This one will have a better interface with Skyward and the teachers won't have to go in there and claim it twice. Okay. And Okay. And this Blue Bonnet is from the grant. Blue Bonnet
004is math? Uh Mr. Mesa, the Blue Bonnet curriculum is purchased with one of the tiers of funding that is provided by TEA. It support The implementation of it is supported by the grant, but the purchase of it is supported by one of the tiers of funding that TEA provides for uh open resources. Okay. Thank you so much, and um I know I had asked the question before, and I see it now that it will have um some resources for for students. Yes, sir. And so, these are consumables? Yes, sir. >> imagine. Um if there's no other question, then Dr. Rios. Yeah, um >> [clears throat] >> I'll turn it over to uh the board for a motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion made by Amy Haynes. Seconded by Linda Webb. All those in favor?
005Motion carries. Move on to Human Resources. >> [clears throat] >> This is in Finance. Oh. Business and Finance, item 15. First item we have is 15A, consideration to approve the memorandum of understanding between San Felipe Del Rio CISD, the City of Del Rio, and the county of Valverde, a political subdivision of the state of Texas in regard to Lone Star Consulting in consideration to approve a purchase order of over 25,000 to Lone Star Consulting in the amount of $16,000. Funding source, general fund for federal advocacy services, Gilbert Sanchez. Mr. President, if I may, before Mr. Sanchez reads the recommendation, if you all will recall at the last meeting we brought a memorandum of understanding for advocacy services for both the federal government and state government. In the board update, I mentioned that our partners, which
006are the city and the county, perhaps would require two separate MOUs, one for each one. As it turned out, they did. So, now we're bringing both of these back. It's the same amount of money spent. Uh so, if it pleases the board, I would just like to ask Mr. Sanchez to read the recommendation for item 15A, uh have the board act on it, and then read the recommendation for item 15B. Uh I'll let you ask questions that you all have before we move forward. Well, I'm glad you explained it because it's kind of confusing cuz I know we bring things up in the last board meeting, and then we have to again vote on it again. But, that's the explanation that you gave. They need separate ones, so. If anyone has a question for Mr.
007Sanchez, anyone? Okay. Then, do you want to read the recommendation, please? Yes. It is a recommendation of administration that the Board of Trustees approve the Superintendent of Schools to sign the memorandum of understanding between the San Felipe Del Rio Independent School District, the city of Del Rio, and the county of Valverde, Texas, a political subdivision of the state of Texas, in regards to Lone Star Consulting, and approve purchase orders over 25,000 in the amount of 16,004 federal advocacy services. First the recommendation, I'll entertain a motion for approval for approval. This is Webb, seconded by Mr. Olindo. All those in favor? Motion carries [clears throat] unanimously. Now we go on to item 16. No. Item 15B. >> B. No. Yes. Yes. Two separate >> [laughter] >> Okay. You want to read the recommendations as we don't
008have any questions again? Yes, sir. It is [clears throat] the recommendation of the administration that the Board of Trustees approve the Superintendent of Schools to sign the memorandum of understanding between San Felipe Del Rio Independent School District, the City of Del Rio, and the County of Val Verde, Texas, a political subdivision of the state of Texas in regard to Andradi, Vander Poel, and approve purchase orders over 25,000 in the amount of 22,000 for state advocacy services. First the recommendation, is there a motion for for approval? Motion made by Mr. Olindo. Seconded by Becky Chavez. All those in favor? Motions approved. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to human resource item 16. First item we have discussion possible action to approve employee job descriptions and evaluation forms. Amy Childress. Good evening, President Mesa, Dr. Rios, and
009members of the board. This evening before you, we are asking for approval for a new job description for the for electrical maintenance cafeteria equipment coordinator, an update to the child nutrition coordinator position, and an update to it should be the food service supervisor job descriptions and evaluations. Questions for Amy? Anyone? We have no questions, Amy. I'll read the recommendation. Yes, sir. It is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of Trustees approve the employee job descriptions and evaluation forms as discussed. Heard the recommendation from administration. I'll entertain motion for approval. Motion made by Becky Chavez, seconded by Mr. Webb. All those in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Item [clears throat] 16B, consideration to approve the conversion of a master electrician to electrical maintenance/cafeteria equipment coordinator. Amy Chungress. Good evening once again. Administration is
010asking for approval to convert the master electrician FTE position to the electrical maintenance cafeteria equipment coordinator FTE position. Any questions [clears throat] for Amy? Being none. Sir. It is the recommendation of the administration that the Board of Trustees approve the conversion of a master electrician to electrical maintenance cafeteria equipment coordinator. Heard the recommendation. Is there a motion for approval? Motion made by Amy Haines, seconded by Mr. Balindo. All those in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Item 16C, consideration to approve the updated 2025-2026 district compensation plans. I think this is the 210th that we do this. >> [laughter] >> Good evening once again. Um at this time we are asking for approval for some updates to our compensation plan. The first is on page 146 under the administrative professional pay plan
011and that is the addition under pay grade one of the electrical maintenance and the cafeteria equipment coordinator. The second item is on page 150 under the auxiliary pay plan pay grade seven. It's the removal of the master electrician. The next item I have is on page 152 under our supplemental stipends. We are adding under the UIL academics sponsors middle school for additional events that are sponsors taking on over three that we would pay them an additional $250 per event that they are sponsoring. And [snorts] then the last update I have is on page 154 under the summer school rates. We are needing to add on the athletic trainer and a physical therapist assistant for our summer school. Dr. I'm sorry Ms. Childress, I should have thought about asking this question earlier. We're converting the master
012electrician position. That's budgeted. Correct. However, the goal of the department is to train some of our journeymen to be master electricians. Is it necessary to remove the item on the pay plan? Because if if one of the journeymen moves up that way we don't have to bring up Again. plan for approval. Is it Is it appropriate to make the recommendation with that exception that we leave the master electrician on there? Yes, we can leave that one on there. Is that okay Mr. Brister, members of the board? Does everyone understand it? Yes. Yes, that's fine. Makes sense. >> Sure. Yes. That's fine. So, will you read the recommendation with the change? >> Yes. It is the recommendation of administration that the Board of Trustees approve the compensation plan with the exception of the removal of the
013master electrician as discussed. For the recommendation, there's a motion from Mr. Galindo, second from Mrs. Webb. All those in favor? Motion [clears throat] carries unanimously. Thank you. Okay, the time is 5:43 p.m. We're going to reconvene into executive session. We're going to do that under 551.074 and 551.071 of the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code Chapter 551. This time, we will go into executive session at 5: 44 p.m. It'll be brief. >> Mhm. >> Okay, the [clears throat] time is 6:23 p.m. No action was taken in executive. We're reconvening into open session. We're down to item 20A, consideration to approve the personnel report to include the following: new hires, district vacancies, retirements, resignations, Amy Chavez. Good evening. It is the recommendation of administration that the Board of Trustees approve the retirements, resignations, and vacancies
014as discussed in closed session. So, it's a recommendation from administration. I'll entertain a motion for approval. Motion made by Becky Chavez, seconded by Amy Haines. All those in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Item 20B, consideration to approve the position of the early literacy curriculum coordinator, Amy Chavez. It is the recommendation of administration that the Board of Trustees approve Anna Ledesma for early literacy curriculum coordinator with our curriculum and instruction department. If that's the recommendation, is there a motion? Mr. Olindo made a motion. Is there a second to the motion? Amy Becky Chavez made the second. All those in favor? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> There being no other items on the agenda, we will call for adjournment of our meeting, and then we'll start our workshop. >> [clears throat] >>
015Is there a motion to adjourn? Mr. Olindo, seconded by Amy Haines. All those in favor? Thank you very much. We are adjourned. We are going to start our budget workshop, and we welcome Erin Kaleki from TASB HR Services. Welcome. Good evening, Board of Trustees. I'm going to move this. I'm a little taller. Okay. Uh good evening. I am delighted to be here with you today in the most beautiful boardroom that I think I've seen and I've seen a lot. So, we're here to talk about your pay systems maintenance project. I do want to add I can give you an hour of board credit. I'll follow up with that for this presentation since it's in a workshop setting. So, that's good news. Good. So, I'll start with our pay study process. As you know, we've been
016doing pay maintenance for you for a number of years. So, we started with data collection. So, Amy and her team sent us all of your current employee pay data, your processes. We also had a kickoff discussion at that time to talk about the project and plan it going forward. And then from there we conducted a market pay review. So, that involves gathering market data, matching common jobs here at San Felipe Del Rio CISD to other districts and also outside of school districts in some cases. And then we built models for improvement. So, that just involves re-aligning your pay structures based on the market that we found and then recommending some adjustments to employee pay as needed. So, just real quickly I have two slides on compensation concepts. So, first it's it's always important to reiterate
017that a quality market-based pay system is designed to help you recruit employees. You can do that through competitive entry rates and also competitive pay for experienced new hires. Your pay system is designed to help you retain the quality staff that you currently have here. Um One way to do that is through a general pay increase. It allows you to advance pay to market rates and allows you to give market competitive pay increases. Next is paying for the job value. So, we set range parameters that prevent overpayment or underpayment for any job. And then last of course is controlling the cost. You as a board have that responsibility and so your salary plan and any increases given should be driven by your budget. This is a sample of what a market-based pay system looks like. You've
018got a group of pay grades, they provide a career path for your employees and ideally what we want to see in a market-based system is the midpoint, the the middle of each of those pay grades aligned with the market rates for the jobs within. So now we're going to talk about the findings and I'll start with our market sources. This is the same group of 13 peer districts that we've used for you for many years. A few things to point out on this chart, there were three school districts that did not participate in our survey this year. Those were Crystal City ISD, Edgewood ISD Bear County and Uvalde CISD. So that for those districts we were able to pull their teacher schedules and include that in the study, but we don't have data for any
019of their other staff. Another thing to point out is that we do have other sources that we use. So we have our survey that we do for school districts across the state, but then we also pay to access two you know come comparable salary surveys so that we can access data on your behalf in industry so outside of education. Okay, so this is a snapshot of the demographics of your teachers. Your average teaching experience here is 13.3 years, which is well above the state average of 11 years. So that tells us you've got an experienced teaching staff. And the majority, 54% of your teaching staff, has 11 or more years of experience. So, this is a a nicely experienced teaching staff that you have here. We also look at the demographics of your newly hired
020teachers. So, these are teachers that started with San Felipe Del Rio CISD this school year. You hired 34 new teachers, um which is just 6.3% of your teaching staff. That's a really low teacher turnover number. Whatever you're doing to retain your teachers, keep doing it. Um and the the majority of your newly hired teachers are new to the profession. So, your teacher salaries, when we compare them to the market median, they are within 2% of the market at all survey years. So, we survey teacher salaries in 5-year increments, starting at year zero and ending at year 20. Um your salaries are ranging from 1% below the market median to 2% above the market median pay values. Uh they're strongest uh at the beginning of the schedule, and then they do drop slightly below market at
021years 15 and 20. And you can kind of see that in this line. Your salaries are represented by the orange line, and then the market median is the the blue line. So, you're above market for years 0, 5, and 15, and then just slightly below market at years 15 and 20. And these are the numbers behind that graph that we just looked at. Uh so, the first row is what you're paying at each of these benchmark years. Um the next row is the local market median, and then the percent of market is is that third row. And then the the difference from market in in terms of dollars is in the final row. So, you are are right there aligned with with market. The The differences are, um, you know, $555 below to $971 above.
022We also looked at how your uh teaching area stipends compared to the market. So, these are stipends that are paid uh for teaching assignments, not extra duties. Um, so your master's degree subject area secondary math and secondary science stipends are all slightly below market, um, but special education general resource, bilingual, and ESL stipends are all above market. Um, and then the special education high needs stipend is lower than the market median. Um, so this data is here if you, um, decide to to make adjustments in the future. And of course, we also looked at all of your other pay groups, your non-teaching pay groups. Um, so I'll go through kind of each one of these. Um, so the the first column of percentages, that's telling you how your employee pay compares to market for each
023of these pay groups. And then the the second column is how your pay grade midpoints compare to the market. So, we want to look at how your employee pay, what what people are actually earning here, how that compares to the market, but we also review structurally how your structures compare to the market. Um, we also look at minimum or starting rates of pay for your non-exempt staff, the staff that earn their pay by the hour, um, and that's what that third column shows. Um, so just real quickly, the the big picture here, you can see when we look at that first column, your employee pay to market, all of your pay groups are above market with the exception of central administration, which is just 1% below market. Um, central administration is basically your director level
024and above positions. Um, most of your pay grade midpoints for the the job groups are aligned nicely with market um, with central administration being 5% below um, your professional business group. Um, that would include jobs like um, accountants uh, um, any marketing type jobs, you have technologies in there as well. Um, those are 2% below market. Um, your pay grade minimums are strong. Uh, you can see for instructional support, that's your classroom teacher aides. Um, their their pay grade minimums are 17% above market, which is very strong. Um, and then the other two, clerical and paraprofessional and auxiliary are at 1% above market and 6% above. >> [snorts] >> So, we'll move on to the recommendations. So, we um, have built for you uh, adjustments to your current structure, nothing major. Um, but we do
025recommend that you implement those pay structure adjustments. We're just realigning with the the market like we do every year. We're we're, you know, continuing to to give you competitive starting salaries, those are important. And then for midpoints, we're just realigning those with the market values. Recommendation two is to adopt a general pay increase to maintain the strong market position that you have. Um I do want to add that the the teacher retention allotment increases and that's a holdover from House Bill 2 from last year. Um those are included in all of the teacher models. Um so we are calculating the the raises to grant the full TRA increases to eligible teachers for next year. Um so for the the pay increase for the teacher structure, that pay increase is calculated as a percentage of the
026market median salary and for all other pay groups, um that general pay increase is calculated as a percentage of each employee's pay grade midpoint. The models that we're proposing, model one is a 2% general pay increase model that does include a $1,350 increase for all of your teachers. Model two is a 3% model um that includes a $2,000 increase for your teachers. And model three is a 4% model which includes a $2,650 increase for your teachers. And of course, um those increases are applied across all of your pay groups in these models. We do have a a few adjustments but that we're recommending. Um so recommendation three is to provide adjustments to address market differences and maintain equity. Um you'll remember in the the teacher market comparison, you were above market at years 0, 5,
027and 10 but a hair below market at years 15 and 20. So we have had it added adjustments to your teacher hiring schedule that when would then also be applied to your current teachers um at years 14 through 22. Um the idea is you're just a hair below market, so we're going to spend a little bit of money and um, bring that part of the schedule up to, you know, even with market hopefully for next year. Um, we're also applying a few adjustments um, to increase pay up to 1% above the minimum if the general pay increase was not enough to do so. Uh, that's just a handful of of staff. When we raise structures, we want to make sure we don't leave anybody underneath them. Um, so we always apply that adjustment. Um, the
028teacher pay equity adjustments are for your staff in the teacher career path. Um, counselors, assistant principals, those types of jobs. Um, just to ensure that they're earning, you know, similar or a little bit more to what they would earn in the classroom as a teacher. Um, strategic adjustments are applied to your administrative professional employees. Um, that's again just a way to spend a little bit of money and raise pay where you're lowest to market. Um, the way these work is if after the pay increase and any adjustments, um, a person's pay is still 90% or less of their midpoint, um, we add an additional 1% just to to drive that pay closer to the market rate. Um, and then last are the placement scale adjustments. So, these are applied um, to your non-exempt staff to
029help spread pay through the range based on the experience that they hold. Um, recommendation four is just to continue to conduct an annual review of your compensation plan. I always say compensation plans are living breathing structures. The market moves and so should your plan. Um, but this helps you ensure market competitiveness and maintain equity in with your staff. And last up is the cost models. Um so model one is that 2% model. Um so this is itemized by pay group, each of your four main pay groups. Um the first column shows you what it will cost to apply the teacher retention allotment adjustments. The next column is the general pay increase. Those adjustments that we talked about are the next column and then the total estimated cost. So on the 2% model, the the total
030payroll cost increase would be roughly 1.9 million. It's a 2.6% budget impact. And model three reads much the same way. Um we're just giving higher at 3% general pay increase, so the adjustments in a lot of cases will decrease. Um this one costs 2.6 million. It's a 3.5% budget impact. And then model three is the 4% model. Uh the total payroll cost would be 3.3 million for a 4.5% budget impact. Can I answer any questions? I'll turn it over to the board members. Mr. Arfoult? Good evening, ma'am. Thank you for being with us this evening. Um I guess it's kind of for you and and for administration as well. You know, we're [clears throat] really seeing because of because of House Bill two and the TIA or the teacher incentive incentive allotment or retention allotment.
031Is it [clears throat] safe to start saying that TIA TRA is really going to start driving um teacher pay and how districts are having to look at how how they're funding or or how they're giving increases and stuff like that. Is that really kind of the direction that the state is trying to push school districts now? Yes, that is absolutely the direction the state wants to pull districts in. And the presentation that will follow this presentation is just part of their efforts to to do it. Now, in the process of providing a whole lot of support, but they would much rather have pay increases based on merit than rather blanket two, three, and four percent as we're discussing today. Um so that's and again, that's really aimed at your your teachers there cuz that's teacher
032center of allotment. Are they proposing anything else or is there anything in the pipeline that the state's proposing for you know, paras and professional admin stuff like that or they're just going to put that they're just going to leave that to the the school districts? No, sir. As a matter of fact, the very next presentation I know that one deals with the It is principal and right? >> Yes, and and and the goal is to have a just about all of your professionals in some type of merit based pay. And this is just our first year in the cohort. Um can't look that far down the line. I I don't know how we would grade some of the other individuals, but the state is working on that and that's part of the cohort that we're
033in. Okay. All right, thank you. Anyone else? Let me say a couple of things, you You and it's obvious that where the disparities are. For example, chief financial officer and then I look at the assistant elementary principals and um and I just a thought for board members. I know that you know, when we had that big giant school, we kind of have to pay we had we had two principals to begin 7th and 8th grade. 7th had one principal, 8th grade had another one. And so then >> [clears throat] >> we kind of changed the administration there and had one principal and so we increased the salary and now we have three small elementaries but we still have the salary amount for that principal. And that kind of when you look at the enrollment, it's
034almost like the same as a elementary enrollment. 6 700 students but somehow [clears throat] the elementary assistant principals got got left out. It looks like it's quite low. When I look at some of the disparities we're giving a $4,000 stipend for it says bilingual ESL it says dual language, Dr. Bruce. But um yet we have some areas like in in I think this [clears throat] year was a good example of that. Um the autism unit, the behavior unit um the self-contained um behavior units that the stipend is quite low when compared to bilingual teachers and ESL teachers. Um Let me look at my notes. When when you have a supervisor that makes less less money than than some of the the people working under that supervisor kind kind of raises eyebrows like okay, we need
035to make some adjustments here. Um >> [clears throat] >> There's some areas that are low um coordinator transportation, senior coordinator HR uh police sergeant is a little bit low. Um Nurses assistant is more or less there. LVNs are low when we look at the at the job market and their value. Um Uh we look at other things like the welder is quite low. Even the lead mechanic is you know, we up the the amount sometime back because it's almost like they have their certifications and they end up being hired by somebody else and so we have we're having trouble finding uh lead mechanics. And so those are areas just to think about. I know that my term will be ending on this board but um those are some areas that you might want to make
036some adjustments because then I know like the middle school you know, we used to have the enrollment of what? 1,600 students and now we we have 1,100 students and so the pay stayed pretty much the same for all three. No. That was the amount when they went in. You you understand what I'm saying? It was already there. Like we didn't change it. Now the enrollments are a lot less. And and so those those some things to to kind of think about. I'm saying this because I'm on my way out. My term is going to end pretty soon. But I think I I I take this salary study you know, and and I look at everything and so there's there's some things even um the the police sergeant is is a little bit low when compared
037to the job market. Um and so those are things to look at and make some adjustments. But it's a very thorough report because again, very well done. I I think we would not have this information if we didn't have the salary study from TASB and so I I thank you again for all the information and I think this is very critical for us to make a decision well for the rest of the board to make a decision as to where we go with pay raises and adjustments. Anyone else? Ms. Webb. First of all, thank you so much for all the information. It's very beneficial. And like Mr. Mesa mentioned, uh we used to have a sixth grade campus, seventh grade campus, and eighth grade campus. And every one of those campuses had a body 800
038students. Wow. And when we look at the salary study about the middle school principals versus the high school principals, yes, there's a lot of things that adjustments that need to be made. So, those are areas that we have to look at. Uh now we have three middle school campuses which only have an enrollment of 500 600 students. So, so 700. So, they're close to what they were when we had uh individual campuses. But we do have to look at the uh what the middle school principals in comparison to the high school principals are doing or the principal at the high school cuz she definitely has a lot more than 800 students to deal with and the assistants as well. But there's a lot of things that we have to look at and consider, but I
039really thank you for for everything that you've done. Thank you so much. >> Absolutely. Thank you for trusting us with this. We we love doing it. I just had one other question. I think maybe Dr. Webb can answer this. The junior ROTC, it seemed like it was low, but I know the salary part of it's paid from district, part from the government. Uh Mr. Mesa, the salary is paid uh by the district. The government gives adjustments to increase their pay. Okay. So, that is taken to account in the It is on this report. >> If I may add on that one, so so the you pay your ROTC instructors based on their MIP that that the government sends. The like you said, um but that can vary depending on how much experience that that individual
040person has. And so, we survey for that job. But you have to pay what the MIP says, and then, you know, another district has to pay what theirs says. So, Okay. >> [laughter] >> I shouldn't look at that too closely then. Yeah, maybe not that one. Okay. >> [laughter] >> That That's the only thing that I had. If anybody else Mr. Arredondo? Miss Colleague, again, thank you for coming in. Just a quick question under recommendation three. Okay. For providing adjustments to address market differences, and as we looked here, again, 15-year salary, 20-year salary, you're 600 under on one and about I don't know, 800 on the other. So, so say we go with the recommended and we go with a 4% increase. You're saying to adjust what that would give it a 5% or how
041much would that adjustment or how can that adjustment, just to get clarification, to to retain you're looking at 14 to 22 years. Can you explain a little bit more on that? Yeah, so when we build in And this is a great question, I'm glad you asked. When when we build additional adjustments, we're factoring in the market values, but we're also factoring in the integrity of your structure. So, so that's why we had to start at year 14, which is not a benchmarked year, because we wanted to maintain a a reasonable difference in pay between each of your teachers throughout the structure. Um so, so both are taken into consideration. Um, the adjustments are identical across the models and and really what that does is allows you um, you know, the the goal would be for
042model one, we would get you to about even with the market median at those levels. With model two, we get to about 1% above the market median and then model two gets you to about 2%. Now, the market's a moving target, so you know, you're across all the models, whatever fits within your budget, you're going to be doing a little better in those comparisons next year, but we don't yet know what all of your peers are going to do. So, we're we're being as strategic as we can with those adjustments. If I If I may, ma'am, if the board on the actual document PDF If you look at page 15, um, which is the first model with 2% and you look under teachers, uh, you can see there where they list adjustments to hiring schedule
043equity and it lists adjustments to years 14 and 22 and they identify 132 individuals. Those individuals, on top of taking the in this model 2% to the midpoint, they will take an additional uh, 1% uh, based on on on this recommendation. It says 0.1% uh, It's a I think it's a 0.1% budget impact is what you're seeing. Um, it's not 1% because it's going to vary by by teachers and and I can get you that breakdown um, of what it looks like, but it'll it'll be a little different for each of those teachers. Uh, it's on the packet, too. So, any anyhow, so they've identified the actual teachers that fall in that and uh, there's a list of of who those teachers are with that many years of experience. Okay. Absolutely. Thank you. And I
044thank you for asking that question because I I noticed with the comparison group that we had, we started out great and then after year 15 it seems like you're I mean you're you are still right there in the ballpark. It to me looks very good. I I talked to districts across the state and I've seen a lot worse this [laughter] year. You're you're in a good place overall. But we But we can always improve. We've been trying every year to kind of I can tell you you've made improvements. To get there get above it. That's always going to be the goal. Right? To get there and above. So that's why that question was just you're right there. So what is going to be needed to raise to that level? >> Yeah, it's not terribly much.
045Like like Dr. Rios says it's a small budget impact that that might have a really meaningful result. Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you so much. My pleasure. This was just a couple points because it requires a little bit more study. For example, the welders were mentioned. And we asked what type of certifications welders in other districts may require versus just welders that we trained to be welders. So we're pending that information because we definitely want to want to pay. The real issue if you notice was the bus drivers. They're way under market and and and they're definitely lacking. So so that's one area that we noted that we need to look at. And we did propose a significant improvement there. Yes. So so the bus drivers are are definitely below and and we know what
046kind of license they they're required to have. You you all mentioned the middle school principals and absolutely you we still have a huge middle school. Some of us were even principals there at some point. What However, the other side of the coin that's come up that we've heard even from parents is that um we have one assistant principal at every middle school. Uh where other schools in our market, depending on the size, have more than one assistant principal. And when we started this process, we asked uh about having one assistant principal per grade level, which is the model for a 6 through 8 middle school campus because of of the work involved. The work doesn't go away because you decrease the size. You still have the same number of athletic events. You still have to
047have arts and 504s and all that stuff. So, I They are above market. Um and and perhaps that needs some adjustments. But unfortunately, in the budget process, we also have to contend with the fact that they're running with one assistant principal for the same type of activities that they've always had. And and we do have to consider having an assistant principal intern to help them or or adding another assistant principal. So, there's a whole lot of complexities to the budget that we have to discuss. The only thing is I've been out of it for 20 years, and I know we added a a different position that we didn't have before. And that was Linda, what what's the title of that person? We have a dean of instruction. >> Dean of instruction. >> Yeah. We did
048not have a dean of instruction. But I think what the disparity is I had a dean of instruction when I was assistant principal there. >> Or when I was a principal there. I did not. Um I was a principal at the middle school, too. But um Yeah, I think the biggest disparity, though, is in the assistant principals at elementary. Mhm. You know, they are. But when I look at stipends, you know, we do give a $4,000 stipend to ESL and dual language. And then when I look at special needs, like special ed, self-contained behavioral unit, autism unit. It's way low compared to the $4,000. And so, I think some adjustment there would help quite a bit. And those are my thoughts. Yes, Mr. White. >> And on another note, when we're talking about assistant principals
049and the number of students, we also have the elementary campuses that have one assistant principal. And I also was at a middle school and I was the only assistant principal at that middle school with 800 students. Also doing all the events, participated in every single UIL, and made every single UIL trip. So, those are things that we also have to look at. >> Who was your principal, ma'am? Uh Mr. Elsoto. A very lucky man to have you. >> [laughter] >> We thank you so much for this lady, okay? Safe travels. >> you were administrators in the school? >> [laughter] >> That's amazing. Thank you all. Thanks for your service. >> Yeah. Uh thank you so much. Safe travels. Well, we're going to adjourn this workshop unless anyone has any further question, discussion. We have another
050We have one more presentation. One more presentation. Mr. Mesa, if I may >> [snorts] >> the superintendent and the cabinet have been doing some extensive work uh participating in this cohort. Ms. Childress is going to make most of the presentation and then I'm going to go uh make a very small part of the presentation. Um it won't take long, but part of the requirement is that we do share with the board the work that we've been doing to implement this enhanced TIA system. Uh so, if you can allow us to move to the next item. Okay. Good evening, once again. So, this evening we're going to provide you with an update on our strategic compensation plan and where we are in the enhanced TIA and where we are in our process at this time. So,
051as you may recall, this 2025-26 school year the district is taking we're part of a 3-year cohort with TEA for the strategic compensation and enhanced TIA. And those the elements that are part of that are to develop a refined administrator evaluation system for principals and assistant principals, to develop and adopt a TIA compliant teacher evaluation system for all, to replace the traditional step and ladder pay system and transition to one based on bands of effectiveness, to blend the teacher incentive allotment, the teacher retention allotment, and other funding sources to ensure financial sustainability, and to adopt an approach to teacher and administrator assignment based on student needs. As part of this 3-year cohort, TEA uh has grant funding that allows us to be part of a technical assistance program. We are partnered with Steady State. They
052are helping us develop this process. And at this time, this kind of showed you an overview of where we are at this time. We are on schedule in 25-26. We have continued our TIA implementation and data capture and expanding our teacher incentive [clears throat] allotment categories. Um this upcoming year all of our teaching categories will be eligible for the teacher incentive allotment. The next step was our looking at our administrators, our principals, and our assistant principals. And again, um the things that we have taken on so far or we've created the stakeholder engagement communication plan. We're in the process of creating our framework, defining our roles. We are in the process of working with our technical assistance provider in creating financial models, and determining the effectiveness levels of our salaries. And we're um this evening
053uh announcing our plan to the community and stakeholder and hosting stakeholder engagement meetings. So, we are on track with our schedule, and then we will continue this work next year with the goal of implementation fully in the 2027-2028 school year. So, this evening we're going to discuss uh the activities the area that we're at at this time is our is our principal scorecards. So, why redesign our principal compensation? So, as House Bill 2 showed and uh TEA has been uh providing information, there is a misalignment between our leadership impact and compensation. There is currently no mechanism for rewarding high-performing principals. Our current step and ladder pay system maintenance just does not allow for that. There is a need for stronger accountability and talent retention. And the desire to align compensation with instructional excellence. Our belief
054is that leadership matters profoundly. So, our compensation system needs to reinforce that. This redesign ensures that student learning and effective leadership are the drivers of pay, not years of service. So, in designing our principal scorecard, um principal engagement is definitely a pillar of the design. We have had meetings, design meetings with our principals. They have provided feedback loops as we've uh put put these scorecards together. We've provided early drafts, which this evening that's what these are, as well as principal feedback revisions. And we keep on having scorecard conversations as we provide these drafts. The current scorecards, the drafts that we're going to discuss this evening, the ratings are based on a 60% student outcomes, 30% on T-PESS, and 10% [snorts] on campus culture. And again, this is for our principal scorecard. The components and measures
055of these scorecards, under student outcomes, the measures that we're looking at are campus rating, district rating, STAR domain one achievement, STAR domain two A achievement, STAR domain three achievement, local growth, which is our non-STAR EOCs, CCMR overall, CCMR TSIA, CCMR industry-based certifications, and CCMR associate degrees. Again, those measurements make up 60% of the scorecard. Under leadership and performance, the measures that we will be looking at are T-PESS domain five, T-PESS domain one, and TIAA T-TESS congruence R values. Again, leadership and performance makes up 30% of our current scorecard. And then the last 10% that is being measured is our uh camp culture and climate and we are measuring our campus climate surveys for that information. So this slide here shows an a uh general example of the scorecard. So as I mentioned, we have our
056student outcomes at 60% our leadership and performance at 30% and our culture and climate at 10%. Then in the next column, we have our measures that we just discussed. >> [snorts] >> And then we have our campus groupings. They are the scorecards are grouped by elementary school middle school and freshman high school early college and then blended. The elementary and middle school campuses and high school they will have separate scorecards if they are an A A or B campus or a C through F campus. And then this slide shows a general oversight of the score points that can be assigned and be earned per each measure based on the campus. We did give you a packet. Uh we're not going to go over they're not in my slide presentation, but of the individual scorecards that
057we have developed for each of the campuses the A AB through and C through F. So you do have a packet of those at your dais. All right. And then Dr. Rios will discuss next couple slides. I'm I'm going to go back one slide just to make a clarification. On this slide, you'll notice that at every level, there is a scorecard for a principal and if the campus is rated A or B, and there's a scorecard if the rate is C or an F. The The need for the two different is because one is going to be based on growth, but also let's say that Mr. Galindo uh was appointed principal of failing school. It's not fair to hold him to the same standard as a principal that was at a at a school that's
058an A or B. He's coming in to pick up a campus. So, in his first year, he would be graded under the scorecard for a campus that's a C through F. To ensure that what he's up against doesn't prevent him from earning pay because obviously he was put in a in a low-performing campus for uh for having prior success somewhere. Does that make sense? That's what That's the need uh for two different scorecards, okay? All right, then I'll I'll move on. Okay, so based on these scorecards, um based on these scorecards, the principals are either going to score uh as progressing, proficient, proficient two, exemplary, exemplary two, or masters. And of course, they could also score below that, okay? So, based on on on what their scorecard what number value they earn, that's the area
059they're going to land on, okay? And now we we can look at at the examples of of of pay. So, if if we look at at this slide, let's just take for example a brand new principal uh it's going to start there at progressing uh where it says base pay is protected, okay? What that means is that let's say that the principal after the first year did not score at the progressing level. Instead, they were not progressing. The first year they would not lose pay, but they wouldn't gain pay either. Okay? The second year, however, if they did uh continue to score at not progressing, uh in all likelihood, they would lose pay. Okay? Then we move forward to the the next year. Again, if they were proficient in for the second year, okay, it's
060a 2-year average, so they still don't get an increase in pay. Okay? They move up to proficient, then they start getting pay raises. So, the way it works is that you move up uh after a 2-year average uh the after the the implementation of the of of this pay, but you also move down on a 2-year average. Uh but it's all based on campus success. We talked earlier about about um the middle school principals perhaps you needed some adjustments. Okay? When we implement this, this will take care of it because in the first year, even though they may grow, they don't get paid the first year. It has to be a 2-year average. When I implementing that this year, though, we're implementing that if the board approves it, you know, in the coming years. Okay?
061Uh but that's how the pay would grow. It would only grow when they move the campus forward. When they score higher based on the campus's achievement, based on their uh culture uh climate and culture survey, uh when they uh their evaluations are appropriate, and also when they rate the teachers appropriately. Yesterday, we celebrated the teacher incentive allotment, all the new recipients. And for those teachers to to to [clears throat] receive additional pay, the student achievement had to be elevated, but so was the rating. And if the principals gave them a rating that wasn't in accordance with the student growth, their R value uh which is the analysis that T-TESS performs, would be down. So, the principals have to lead the campus to success. They have to be able to evaluate talent accordingly. Otherwise, their R
062value is low, and they either get less points and no points. Incidentally, uh the group that we're working with, they've taken all of the value they had and they let us know how each principal did on their R value. In the next principals' meeting, it's going to be nice to share with the principals and say, "Hey, you did really well." Or uh we need to work on it a little bit. Uh and I think that'll also be an aha moment for the principals because they know that we're moving uh to this type of merit pay, uh it's important that everybody self-identify when you need to improve so that you can study uh the the appropriate uh domains uh for each evaluation and and ensure that we do it appropriately. So, it is extensive. It is
063based mostly on student achievement, but it's also based on uh the professional skill set of each individual. Are there any questions on um this pathway to higher compensation? The slide that we have up right now? Just want to say it's a lot of work, and I'm glad that it's being done because it's going to create some competition, which is wonderful. Yes, sir. Ms. Webb? Hello, Dr. Rios. Hello, Ms. Webb. I want to say that what you're implementing or trying to implement right now, it's also happening throughout other districts. I've looked at several districts and they're basically doing the same. Similar to what we're implementing here or trying to implement here with our with our administrators. So, we're right on on target with what's going on. Yes, ma'am. Good job, sir. Thank you. Josh. I have
064a I guess a legality question. Um how do you get around the >> [snorts] >> the issue of reducing someone's pay for keeping them in the same position, but the pay goes down cuz you're normally like if someone's in a position and they get put somewhere else to keep the they get to keep the pay for 1 year and then it regresses to whatever that particular position is. So, how how does that work cuz they're they're still a principal, but the pay gets reduced. The two points. Uh first, the board sets the pay scale. So, the board would in effect adopt a pay scale similar to what we're sharing here now. And that would put put people on notice, this is your pay scale. You can either go up or go down. Two, the contracts
065is what they're entitled to. Mhm. Uh not the pay. There isn't a single contract that indicates how much the individual is going to get paid. So, those are those two legal points. Okay, cool. Thank you. Ms. Arlinda. So, elaborating on that of the here, Dr. Real say uh uh 26 27, they're at a 104,000. Yes, sir. So, they progress after the 2-year average, and they move to 114. Right? Just how it's showing there, 28 29. So, at 114, after the next 2-year average comes out, and they do not progress, and that's where they can lose their salary, they would go back to what? An example, this is just I just using this one, what would be an example they would go back to? Okay. The The business rules that we're trying to implement and develop,
066uh I'll give I'll give you a case. Let's just say that uh that you, Mr. Olindo, you moved up after your 2-year average, and now you're proficient one. Yes, sir. But, something happened, and uh you went all the way down to not progressing. Mhm. Whatever the case may be. Okay. Part of the business rules that we would recommend, and the board would adopt as part of the pay scale, would be the decrease in pay. It would be, for example, we would not recommend in the business rules that we're going to write to recommend to y'all, we would not recommend a drop from 114 all the way to 99. But, we would recommend that in the first year you lose 7,500, which is half of that, and the next year, so in increments, you would go
067down in increments. Just like it takes 2 years to go away from proficient, it would take 2 years to go all the way to the current achievement level. And and and part of all the work that we're doing with with our coaches is uh first, developing the scorecards, which was a whole lot of work, uh the in the cabinet uh to spend a whole lot of time doing that, and then reviewing with the principals, and then got in small cohorts and gave us their feedback. And then Steady State reviews it. That was a lot of work. The other work is coming up with these business rules because you are taking money from somebody [clears throat] that got used to earning money at that level. But again, it's based on a merit system. And I know
068that we're talking about principals right now. But the reality is that we're working on principals and assistant principals at the same time. We're just sharing with you all the entire concept. But right along uh we're creating the report cards uh for assistant principals. We're just not doing it as heavy on student achievement uh because it is the principal is the principal. Uh but it's close. If I may add something else, I know the uh preparation for mid-management certification has already been started at the university level. It's a total different program for certification. And on the um the vision of the strategic compensation of student outcomes, the T-PESS, and the campus climate, is that standard across the state of what those were broken up into, and the 60, the 30, and the 10? Uh no, sir.
069Some districts went 80% on student achievement. They wanted to base it primarily, almost solely on student achievement. Other other districts went the 60-30-10 model. >> Okay. And then on the campus survey uh the campus survey is very big, the one we use from TASB. But because it's about leadership, we're going to narrow it down to the questions that directly ask about the principal. Usually has to do with discipline and uh being responsive to the teachers' needs. So, it's not the entire uh climate survey because there are some things that ask questions about district leadership and uh other things. Okay. This is what kind of question or I'm I'm done. Thank you. Okay. Based on what Mr. Galindo mentioned, for example, somebody that's making 114,000, and let's say they don't make progress that year. Um and
070you're looking at making a plan to reduce half of their salary or what have you or Okay. Half of half of the the the step from one level to the next. >> Right. So, is there any plans on leaving them where they're at and see if they make progress the following year instead of in other words, giving them the needs, giving them all the material that they need to progress and move forward versus reducing instead of going back that particular year. Because you also mentioned, for example, low-performing schools, and you use Mr. Galindo as an example. Let's say he got a low-performing school, and you're giving him a year or whatever it takes to bring it up. But I can tell you, I've been at two low-performing schools, and I was able to bring both
071of them up within a year. So, it is possible. It's very, very possible. Yes Yes, ma'am. It It is um You don't lose pay your first year. Okay. It's You lose pay on the 2-year average. So, you are given a year's notice. Uh given support, time to prove Okay. focus a lot. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay. We'll go on to the next Next slide. Okay. I think the next slide we're we're almost done. I think I'm going to I'm going to ask Amy to help us uh lead us to a help. This is just a timeline of implementation. This coming year will be a capture year. We'll look at the data. Uh although Steady State is already looking at our data, they've already scored the principals our values. Um they're already [snorts] able to project
072uh a scorecard for the principals based on the information we've given them, but this is just a practice year. Uh, next year is the capture year. The year after that is the whole harmless year where they get that first year nothing happens till the second year. And then, um, the full implementation the following year. Okay? Ms. Childress, are you right behind me? I think the last two are the business rules, correct? Yes. Thank you. So, the next two slides are just, um, as as we mentioned, uh, what we've given you is the overview of the of the overview of the scorecard. We are still refining it and we are still in talks. And, um, some of the things that we are also possibly considering to add to the scorecards or in addition would be possibly
073extra points, uh, to consider our high priority campus needs. So, we are looking at possibly, um, adding points for if it's an economically disadvantaged, um, campus, if their special education percentage exceeds a a certain percentage, at-risk percentage, or, uh, possibly even, uh, total enrollment if it exceeds a certain amount of students. And some other areas we have also looked at and possibly adding points are in distinction designations, um, academic achievement in reading language arts or possibly mathematics, science, social studies. Um, so, like we said, we're still refining it. This is just the uh, these are the steps that where we're at at this time. So, again, you know, the reason we're doing this and what the strategic compensation means for our culture is it does strengthen our shared accountability. It clarifies the district expectations, encourages
074development and coaching. It rewards sustained excellence and it creates leadership pipelines with stronger incentives is our goals. Our next steps are to continue our scorecard discussion meetings to get feedback from our principals and our assistant principals again to finalize the scorecards for both the principals and the assistant principals and then to run mock data simulations and make sure to see, you know, from the data that we have to make sure that our scorecards are working the way we want them to. And that is it. I just want to >> reiterate again, there's so much work that goes on behind the scenes, but it's such a wonderful thing because even for the award distinctions and for the low socioeconomic, bilingual, you've included everything that I can think of. It's wonderful. I think it's the best thing
075ever and as I mentioned, I think it's going to improve instruction just like the TIA teacher incentive allotment um does. It increases the instruction um and competition amongst everybody. And so this is the next step for administrators. Anyone else? I thank you so much for working on that. No one has a question for Amy? No, I don't I don't have a question. I was going to make a comment, but it's okay. Then I will ask for a motion to adjourn. Motion made by by Mr. Melendez and seconded by Amy. All those in favor? Motion carries. We are adjourned. >> Mhm.