(Seguin) — The Seguin ISD just locked in one more way to not only stay competitive, but to also ensure that the best of the best are not only recruited, but stay in Seguin.
The Seguin ISD Board of Trustees this week unanimously approved employee salary increases for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. Dot Whitman, Seguin ISD assistant superintendent of administrative services, says the compensation increase is exactly what the state’s newly adopted legislative HB3 regulations called for in providing more money for teachers. Whitman says the district is especially proud of its individual efforts to really crunch the numbers and give teachers what they deserve.
“On the tiered increases is looking at a tier amount so again, steps one through five would be at a certain range and we are looking at a $2,500 increase for all teachers on the Step 1-5. Step 6-25, $3,500 and Step 26 and above $3,750. When we took that information and we looked at the range of increases were by percentage, the least amount would be a 5.02 percent up to a 6.9 so almost a 7 percent raise for a lot of teachers. That’s huge compared to where we have been in the past. We’ve been two percent, sometimes even one percent, three percent if we got lucky. So, this is a big deal. This will also be reflected — these same steps will match the master’s pay scale and the counselors. So if you are a counselor on Step 10, you will see a $3,500 but their steps are based off of the bachelor’s in an incremental format,” said Whitman.
Whitman says the starting teacher salary would also increase an additional $2,000.
“One of the exciting pieces as well is the starting teacher salaries schedule. We are recommending going from $49,000 to $51,000 as a first year, starting pay for teachers. Again, this is a large jump. We’ve historically either gone as high as $500 or $1,000 but going up to $51,000 has done a lot with our comparisons,” said Whitman.
As for those comparisons…Whitman says the Seguin ISD is no longer lagging behind what other districts pay new teachers.
“We’ve done a quick review of how we would compare with our surrounding districts, the ones that we really compete with — Schertz, Hays Comal, New Braunfels even Navarro, Marion, San Marcos. So, we did a comparison. I don’t have this out yet because I won’t make it public until everything is final in August board meeting but what I can tell you is when I look across the top, we always used to see where we ranked among the nine districts and we are usually six, seven, eight — one time we got up to five or four. I think we did a backflip when we were at 4. With this recommendation right now, we would be number one at zero years along with New Braunfels. So, we would be tied but we would be the top two paying districts at the entry pay scale in our competitive field and we’ve never ever been at number one,” said Whitman.
Increasing the wages also puts the Seguin ISD in a competitive position across it’s salary schedule for teachers with various levels of experience. She says while teachers see the incentive, it’s the students that stand to reap the benefits of having the best of the best in local classrooms.
“Year five, we would be ranked third behind Schertz and New Braunfels and just a quick note on the entry — we’ve never competed with Schertz-Cibolo, they’ve always been $4,000 to $5,000 above us so that entry rate was huge. At the 10 year mark, we would actually be second behind Schertz. So we would be above New Braunfels, San Marcos, Hays, Comal and then at year 15, second and at 20, we would be third. But again, that’s why we are also trying to push some of the dollars for our veteran teachers. That alone is going to do a lot to hit strategic priority #3 on recruiting and retaining our employees,” said Whitman.
Under the approved plan, all returning teachers, librarians, nurses and diagnosticians will also receive a percentage increase range of 5.02 percent to 6.94 percent as compared to the prior year bachelor’s pay scale.
Employees who have a master’s degree will continue to receive $1,000 above the step amount reflected on the bachelor’s pay scale. Counselors will continue to receive $3,500 above the step amount reflected on the bachelor’s pay scale.
All returning educators as referenced above will receive the following wage increase based on their respective pay scale: $2,500 for steps 1 through 5, $3,500 for steps 6 through 25 and $3,750 for step 26 and above.
Whitman says like teachers, all other employees are also in position to see an increase.
All paraprofessional, clerical, auxiliary, child nutrition and transportation employees will receive a $1.00 per hour increase which equates to an average of a 5.83 percent increase.
Campus administrators will receive a 4 percent increase as compared to the prior year salary and other professional employees will receive a 3.5 percent increase as compared to the prior year salary.
In addition to the salary increases, the district will increase the insurance contribution from $315.00 to $368.00 per month to assist with the health insurance premium costs for those employees who participate in the Seguin ISD health insurance plan.
Now while other districts may also still be giving raises, Whitman says this year, the Seguin ISD has chosen to go a step further.
“One of the big things that we always hear about is the cost of insurance and you all know — I’m sure your constituents always tell you to ‘great on the raise but that just takes all my money for insurance’ because across the board, insurance is expensive anywhere you go. So one of the things that Tony (Hillberg)’s office did was they looked at what the contribution is now and what they could increase it to and that would be right off of employee only but also employee family and employee spouse so instead of a $315 contribution per employee per month, we are increasing that to $368 per employee per month and for employee only, that’s almost the full cost of insurance. That is besides your dental, your vision — the things that you choose. That’s a big deal for just that basic employee insurance cost,” said Whitman.
The benefits for Seguin ISD teachers don’t stop with a pay increase and some relief with insurance. District officials say they will also be providing a one-time stipend of $200 to each classroom teacher to assist with the out-of-pocket cost for added classroom supplies and materials. The stipend will be a one-time payment in September and will be prorated for those teachers who do not instruct students 100 percent of the day.
An amendment to the budget to officially reflect the pay raises for its teachers is expected sometime in August. The 2019-2020 salary increases will be included for the September 2019 payroll.