HISD trustees approve $2B budget
Teachers, classroom workers will get raises based on experience and a one-time bonus
Houston ISD trustees Thursday approved a $2 billion spending plan for the 2020-21 school year that includes small raises and bonuses for nearly all employees, a compromise between board members and the district’s administration amid a back-andforth over staff compensation.
Trustees smoothly shepherded through the budget in a 7-2 vote, ending a run of three consecutive years with last-minute changes, drawn-out debate and occasional bitterness before the approval of spending proposals. While the budget contains few major overhauls to HISD operations, it lays the groundwork for an unprecedented school year amid the novel coronavirus pandemic and difficult financial decisions looming in 2021.
“This has been a challenging year with all of the unknowns,” HISD Board President Sue Deigaard said. “We’re also going into a challenging time economically, and we’ve got some really hard work ahead of us.”
Under the approved budget, teachers and other classroombased employees would receive a “step” increase — a raise based on years of experience, typically ranging from $300 to $1,000 — and a one-time bonus equal to 1.5 percent of their salary.
Other employees would earn a one-time bonus of up to $500, including bus drivers, food service attendants, crossing guards and all staff on the master pay scale.
HISD also would cover increases in employees’ health insurance premiums, expected to total $9.3 million.
The compensation plan, which will total about $33 million in additional spending, marked a middle ground for HISD Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan.
As recently as last week, Lathan recommended providing only step increases to teachers and campus-based staff totaling $6 million, arguing that the district could not afford bigger raises
amid uncertainty about the impact of COVID-19 on revenues. She reversed course this week by offering more one-time bonuses, totaling an additional $15 million, drawing approval from the district’s largest teachers union.
Even with the pay bumps, HISD teachers likely will earn base salaries that rank among the lowest in the Houston region. Teachers also can earn extra compensation through stipends, incentives and other methods. Districts also offer varying benefits packages.
“This is a small first step, and we need to do more,” Trustee Anne Sung said.
Under the new budget, HISD also plans to restructure police officers’ pay and increase their salaries by about $3.5 million — a significant boost for a department with combined annual salaries totaling about $11 million. Lathan said the raises would reduce turnover, which fuels high overtime costs, by bringing officer salaries closer in line with neighboring departments.
The increase drew added scrutiny in recent days after the death of former Houston resident George Floyd, which sparked calls nationwide from some advocates seeking to reduce or eliminate spending on police. About 15 members of the public urged trustees to reject the increase or disband the district’s police department ahead of the budget vote.
“I just don’t know about spending an additional $4 million on police officers when we can spend it on kids,” said Trustee Elizabeth Santos, who joined Trustee Dani Hernandez in voting against the budget.
HISD will face a projected $15 million deficit under the budget, which could result in the district drawing on its $500 million “rainy day” fund. HISD’s deficit projections often miss the mark by tens of millions of dollars because of fluctuations in property tax collections and district spending, among other factors.
While districts are not expected to see revenue losses in 2020-21, largely because of Texas’ school finance structure, the financial outlooks become far murkier the next year. Unless federal lawmakers provide billions of dollars in aid or Texas legislators tap the state’s $10 billion rainy day fund, school districts could face significant shortfalls heading into the 2021-22 school year.
Trustees voted for the budget after about an hour of debate, with only one major change proposed during Thursday’s meeting. In the past few years, trustees have recommended overhauls to the administration’s budget proposal just before voting on the plan.
Board members also approved substantial changes to the district’s policies on in-district charter schools, which have been criticized by some trustees and community members as overly lax. The campuses drew added scrutiny after the disclosure that three interconnected charter operators contracting with HISD pay millions of dollars annually to a company owned by their highest-ranking employee.