BISD Board Information
Aug
23
I will gladly pay you Tuesday….
Do you remember Wimpy from the Popeye cartoon? Well Tuesday is our day. You are needed at the Board meeting on Tuesday at 5:00. I will support an alternate salary schedule for teachers. This alternate salary schedule will begin the process of decompressing the “hiring schedule”. I asked Dan Schaefer, the financial director of the district to suggest a salary schedule that will lead us in the right direction even if it takes a couple of years. With this alternate or optional salary schedule, teachers with more than 10 years would receive a 3.5-4% increase rather than a 3% increase.
This alternate salary schedule would cost the district roughly $200,000 more. It would not change the proposed tax rate . The result would be that the amount budgeted for the fund balance or reserve fund would drop from $930,000 to $730,000. Although I have been a supporter of increasing our reserves, I believe that this is the right time to begin changing the salary schedule to be more equitable to those with more than 10 years experience. The fund balance could also be bolstered by frugality and better usage of the district’s resources….just because it is budgeted does not mean it has to be spent. Do we really need to spend $41,000 on “coaching school”?
Please come to the BISD board meeting on Tuesday, August 25 at 5:00. I would like for you to hear the discussion.
Buzz it up and show up.
Aug
11
Time to speak up…
Today in The Facts I wrote a letter about the the small amount of difference between the compensation of a new teachers and those with twenty years of experience. This information was obtained from the TEA site and was data that was submitted by BISD in the PEIMS report for last year. The salaries were average salaries. I believe from the information I have received, that the compression of our salary schedule has occurred because previous raises were not given on actual salaries but on midpoints. This problem won’t be corrected in one year but the correction should start. I think it would be reasonable to have decompression in 2-3 years. Then we all need to continue to advocate for the experienced teachers. As I have said many times, BISD needs to retain teachers so that it doesn’t have continuously recruit new ones.
So where do we get the money? I suggest that we tighten our belts in the current budget so that our savings this year can be used for the fund balance and use the budgeted fund balance for corrections in our compressed salary schedule.
So what can you do? Make calls to the administration and board members. Write a letter of support to the newspaper. Talk to your friends and families and encourage them to advocate for teachers.
I look forward to your comments.
What's Happening At BFT
This blog is to provide another method for dialogue between the members of Brazosport Federation of Teachers & Support Personnel (BFTSP). This organization is open to all employees of Brazosport ISD (except administrators).
- Click Button To Return To BFTSP
