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The Houston Independent School District today released its new 2024-25 employee salary package, which promises to increase teacher pay (in some cases much higher) across the district and raise the minimum wage for non-teaching staff to $15 an hour , but there is no mention in the 28-page salary package whether librarians are individually mentioned.
Even in schools not part of the new education system, librarians — the position, anyway — no longer appear on Tuesday’s payroll. Superintendent Mike Miles made it clear that he does not consider them a necessary part of HISD campuses. They were removed from the NES schools this year, and while other school districts apparently thought they could avoid such cuts, it doesn’t look good.
After questions were raised at an afternoon news conference, the HISD press office issued a statement saying that at non-NES schools, “principals will continue to have discretion to allocate resources to librarians or media specialists.” [they’re not in there either] If they choose. Compensation for these positions is governed by the Teacher Salary Scale. ”
Jessica Neyman, HISD human relations director, said dean positions that still exist at some schools will be terminated. These responsibilities will be handled by the Assistant Principal.
The employee compensation plan is part of the budget (80%), which will be presented to the HISD Board of Governors for approval in June.
Neiman called the roughly 30-page former budget an “old whale,” explaining that it had grown over the years without a centralized vision and “demonstrated the low-level performance that was common in previous administrations.” Efficiency issues”.
“There was a habit in the past that whenever someone did a little extra, they expected to get a stipend. There’s a lot of freedom in a decentralized compensation structure.”
These inefficiencies “go against the strategy,” she said. The new employee handbook is a complete revision of the previous document and was developed by the Human Resources and Finance departments.
While the focus is on raising wages for teachers willing to teach in a more structured NES model, Neiman said the administration decided to raise wages in non-NES schools to make employment in HISD more attractive amid a widespread teacher shortage.
Even brand-new teachers in non-NES schools will make $64,000 a year, which Neiman said is likely more than other local school districts. According to her, the average teacher salary in Texas is $55,616.
The average salary for high school NES teachers is $82,816, with the highest salary for teachers with five years of experience being $88,816.
“We’re sticking to the hospital model,” she said, alluding to Myers’ frequent remarks that brain surgeons are paid more than other doctors. As a result, English and math teachers will continue to be paid more than teachers in other subjects.
However, the district, which is experiencing a shortage of special education teachers, has raised salaries to $86,000 for teachers with zero to two years of experience and to $92,000 for teachers with five years of experience, she said.
She also advocated raising wages for hourly workers to no less than $15 an hour, saying they should “have a living wage.”
This year NES teachers received a $10,000 stipend. Next year that number will drop to $4,000.
In response to another question, Neiman said the district is still deciding whether to allow teachers to be released from their contracts in the coming year without reporting sanctions to the Texas Education Agency as it did this year. Teachers’ commitment to stay is important to students’ academic success, she said. “You really don’t want as the school year gets closer and the teacher says ‘I changed my mind,’ and then you’re scrambling to fill the classroom.”
She confirmed that some employees would see their salaries reduced. Some people who are “innocent” this year, meaning they retain the same salary level as before, will not receive this benefit next year. “Their wages will be adjusted [downward],” adding, “This number is indeed small. “
Principals, teachers and other staff all received news of the pay package at the end of classes today, and Neiman said releasing the news earlier in the day may have caused some disruption.
Now you can take a look too.
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