If you attended or watched via live stream any of the meetings of the Dallas ISD board of trustees, you likely heard a repeated refrain during public comment — that of district support staff who said they hadn’t had a raise in years.
Last night, that changed.
Initially, the pay raises for eligible teachers, campus leaders and support staff would hinge on the passage of a Tax Ratification Election on the ballot in November. But better-than-expected property tax revenues allowed the district to remove that restriction and place the matter on the agenda for Thursday’s regular meeting.
The board’s 8-0 vote (Trustee Lew Blackburn was absent) approved up to $33.3 million in increases.
Trustee Joyce Foreman said she was excited about the raises, but did have a few questions about who would get the raises.
District officials explained that $16.1 million would go to eligible teachers, $3.9 million to eligible principals and assistant principals, and support staff would get $13.3 million.
Foreman asked if there was a breakdown available for how many central office support staff would be getting raises, versus support staff at schools.
“Central office staff has gotten raises, support staff has,” Foreman said.
District staff said that neither central office support staff nor instructional support staff had received a raise in three years.
“Was this change due to political pressure, or because of the valuations of homes in Dallas?” Trustee Dustin Marshall asked.
District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said that initial revenue estimates were at 7 percent. “When we got to 10 percent, it allowed us to do this,” he explained, adding that 60 percent of the funds would be coming from business property tax revenues, and 40 percent from residential.
Under the new compensation guidelines, teachers that are eligible for raises will see a on average a two percent increase, beginning in their October paychecks. Eligible principals and assistant principals will have compensation based on market adjustment.
All eligible support staff, counselors, media specialists, district police, bus drivers, operations staff, technical staff and non-TEI instructional support staff will receive a 3 percent raise, which will appear in their Sept. 15 paychecks.
