HISD to give Grier $98,600 in bonuses
With no public input, school board votes 4-3 on satisfactory rating for departing Grier
The Houston school board votes 4-3 to give outgoing Superintendent Terry Grier a satisfactory evaluation and $98,600 in bonuses.
As Superintendent Terry Grier approaches his final months at the helm, the Houston school board on Wednesday narrowly signed off on his job evaluation, rating him at least satisfactory and awarding him $98,600 in bonuses.
The board’s 4-3 vote, without public discussion, reflects a split over how well Grier has led the Houston Independent School District since 2009. The school board had not moved to extend his contract this year, and Grier announced in September that he would work through February and then resign.
“I appreciate the positive evaluation I received from the board,” Grier, at home recovering from surgery, said in a phone interview. “I think it’s a good reflection of the hard work of the teachers, principals and staff. And I’m going to miss working with the majority of the board.”
One bonus, for $45,000, was based on Grier’s job evaluation. His contract guarantees him that amount if trustees rate him an average of 2 or higher on a 3-point scale.
The criteria include his communication with the board, the district’s financial well-being and the construction bond
program. It also focuses on Grier’s initiatives, such as distributing laptops to students and improving literacy, college preparedness and teacher quality.
Grier earned a second bonus of $53,600, based mostly on student test scores on state and national exams.
Of the 18 measures, Grier was found to have met the standard in 12 — which meant he received 67 percent of the $80,000 maximum payout allowed under his contract. He qualified for the money for each measure regardless of the extent of the district’s progress, even if it was less than 1 percentage point.
For example, he met the mark in one area with the percentage of high school students scoring advanced on state English exams rising from 4.9 percent in the 2013-14 school year to 5.4 percent last year.
The scores were better in biology, improving from 9.4 percent to 14.2 percent.
The school board did not discuss the bonus criteria or amounts during its public meeting Thursday, but the district provided them after the vote.
Based on the state’s school accountability system, HISD had more poorly rated campuses last school year than the prior year.
Grier has received at least a “satisfactory” job evaluation every year. But the $53,600 bonus he received based on other performance measures is the lowest in three years. Grier’s bonuses last year totaled $116,673.
HISD school board president Rhonda Skillern-Jones and trustees Anna Eastman and Wanda Adams voted against the satisfactory evaluation and bonus. Trustees Mike Lunceford and Juliet Stipeche were absent.
Grier’s base salary is $300,000, plus $19,200 for car and technology allowances. He also is paid for unused leave time, which equates to tens of thousands of dollars annually.
Trustee Harvin Moore, who voted with the majority, praised Grier, saying he elevated the quality of teachers and administrators and increased student participation in higherlevel Advanced Placement courses.
“He doesn’t get the top score because he’d have to figure out reading,” Moore said, noting the subject as a trouble spot. “I want the district to be as good at reading as we are at math.”
HISD generally ranks high compared with other urban districts in math.
“My vote is my comment,” said trustee Eastman, who voted against the evaluation and bonus.
Trustee Manuel Rodriguez Jr. said he gave Grier a mix of 1s, 2s and 3s, but his average topped 2. He praised Grier’s efforts to improve students’ readiness for college but declined to discuss the areas he scored low.
“There were some board members that were very happy with the superintendent, some that marked him fairly and some that didn’t mark him as fairly as they should have,” Rodriguez said.