In a move that may
well astonish many, the AISD Board of Trustees on Monday approved the 1996-97
preliminary budget that will spend almost $12 million more on salaries,
granting teachers a 5% pay raise, and putting into place a more equitable
salary schedule to deliver it. The pay hike, one of several addenda to the
proposed budget of $409 million, will be funded by tacking on at least another
half cent to the new school tax rate and making a few hundred thousand dollars
in program reductions. Trustees ultimately adopted a budget for 1996-97 of
$411.5 million — an increase of $26.6 million over last year’s spending. The
board did not set a tax rate (they have until September to do so), but the
anticipated figure is $1.306 per $100 property valuation. School taxes on the
average home this year, valued at $112,010, will come to about $1,397 — almost
$100 higher than the tax bill on the average home last year.
For the district’s 5,500-plus teachers, there is a sense that the money is
really going toward something meaningful — labor. Teachers have long clamored
for a raise more substantial than the usual 3% cost-of-living hike. And the
so-called “step” salary schedule, which will better compensate the district’s
more experienced teachers, has been in contention for several years. Citing the
district’s financial constraints, previous boards have rejected increases every
year.
But this time, trustees said yes because parents and other members of the
community, too, have told them they want better, fairer, and more competitive
salaries for AISD teachers. (Only Tom Agnor voted against the pay hike, because
it involves a tax increase.) And trustees say they are in a better position to
respond to the community’s pleas — not because AISD has experienced any new
windfalls in revenue (in fact, state aid continues to dive every year), but
because Superintendent Jim Fox and the staff he has brought into the district
have realigned the board’s thinking.
In the past, said Trustee Geoff Rips, there was always a sense that there was
no way to move forward anymore, because there was no way to fund any new
initiatives. The only thing the board could do was minimize its losses. Now,
the district will proceed with a number of new initiatives in curriculum and
staff development — and deliver a pay raise that means something. Trustee Liz
Hartman, harmonizing with Rips, said that instruction and curriculum, not droll
administrative pronouncements on its finances, are driving what AISD does for
its students now.
Besides the pay raise for teachers, the board also approved a 4.5% hike for
classified employees (up from the 3.2% originally proposed) and increased
“stipends” for the poorest, lowest-achieving students from $200 to $210 (part
of a new program called EXCEL, designed to help those campuses bring up test
scores). Trustee Loretta Edelen, who voted against the budget last year because
she believed it gave poor and minority children a raw deal, joined her fellow
trustees in unanimous approval of the budget this year.
In other board action: The tidal wave of new principal appointments continued
to surge for Barrington, Galindo, Pease, Blanton, and Harris elementaries, and
Lamar Middle School. And the district is charging forward on its $369 million
bond issue, as well. The board hired the firm of BLGY/Sverdrup to develop a
comprehensive management plan for a portion of the bond monies. AISD
administration believed BLGY/Sverdrup to be the best choice for the first phase
of the bond program because of the firm’s national experience in school
construction, its connection to the local community, and its commitment to
employing historically-underutilized businesses. Trustees also decided that the
citizens’ bond oversight committee will be a 15-member group, comprised of nine
members they appoint, plus six appointed by the superintendent. The committee
members must be residents of the district, trustees agreed. Trustees did not consider a plan to approve new contracts with any of the
district’s health insurance providers — SANUS, PCA Health Plans of Texas, and
Prudential. At a work session on June 22, Fox told the board he wanted more
time to survey all of AISD’s employees before making a recommendation to the
board about which providers to stay with, as the case may be. The issue of
adequate health insurance is reportedly an emotional matter for Fox, and he has
already intervened on behalf of two seriously ill employees who could not get
their treatments covered by their health plans. AISD will grant temporary
extensions on all companies’ contracts for the time being; the matter is
expected to come before the board in about six months, when the employee survey
is complete. Other notes: The board will not meet in July. The first day of the 1996-97
school year is Tuesday, August 13. Monday, August 5, is registration day for
new students. n
This article appears in June 28 • 1996 and June 28 • 1996 (Cover).