The San Antonio Independent School District board of trustees passed a 2% general pay increase for teachers and staff this week, a reversal from an initial recommendation by the district to forgo raises due to financial challenges.
That initial recommendation came with a prediction by district leaders that other area school systems would forgo raises as well due to the expiration of federal pandemic relief dollars and the lack of increased state funding since 2019, but the largest district in the region, Northside ISD, passed a 2% raise weeks ago.
“Throughout this entire budget development season, I had been very clear that we would not be able to offer a compensation increase given our dire financial situation,” SAISD Superintendent Jaime Aquino said during a board meeting Monday. “Our reality has changed. We’re struggling to fill our vacancies.”
Trustee Ed Garza questioned whether a 2% raise would be enough to meaningfully stem the teacher shortage, something Aquino said is not a guarantee.
“I have to be realistic to the board and to the community that I am not confident that a 2% [raise] is sufficient to guarantee us to fill the vacancies or to prevent others from leaving,” Aquino said, adding that the district is already seeing a rising number of resignations at the end of this school year.
Trustees agreed that something needed to be done but showed frustration with the inability to do more.
Trustee Alicia Sebastian called the current strategy “putting a Band-Aid on an open wound.”
“They’re not even really going to see that [2%],” she said.
But labor leaders, who spoke during public comment, including San Antonio Alliance President Alejandra Lopez, welcomed the proposal.
Lopez said the reversal of the district was “a testament to your ability to adapt to the changing landscape of education within the city and state.”
“I commend district leadership for going back to the drawing board to figure out a way to demonstrate to our staff that they are … valued here,” she added.
The board also voted to raise starting teacher base pay to $58,400, increase stipends and elevate pay grades for specific positions while increasing staffing for mental health initiatives. The district absorbed health care premiums for another year, too, increasing costs for the district and not its employees.
Days after SAISD approved the package, the Southwest Independent School District board of trustees also passed a 2% raise, with an added retention stipend of up to $1,000. The district also raised base salary for starting teachers to $61,000.
The flurry of compensation proposals echoes the trend of raises seen last summer, as districts across the region passed some of the largest raises in recent history, bolstered by federal COVID-19 funding. But this year, districts face more dire financial challenges, possibly requiring future cuts to remain competitive.
The 2% general pay increase for SAISD, which Aquino said was “a token of gratitude” and not the total amount deserved by teachers, will increase the projected budget deficit from around $46 million to $53 million. At the same time, the district continues to grapple with low attendance and falling enrollment.
Without significant changes, the district will find itself in a similar situation next year, trustees and district leaders said. Without the ability to provide a raise, Aquino said, alternative enhancements like a four-day workweek might have to be considered.
Dottie Carreon, the district’s chief financial officer, said the raises are still necessary despite the price tag. But the district must address the deficit in the coming years, she warned.
“We feel that setting up the 24-25 school year for success for the students is critically important to the district,” she said.
Some of the projected deficit may not accrue due to vacancies going unfilled, she said, adding that the district has also yet to see savings from the closure of 15 campuses as part of the “right-sizing” plan it enacted last year.
But those savings might not be enough.
Trustee Leticia Ozuna and Aquino referenced the excess capacity that still exists across the district, foreshadowing the possibility of more closures.
“We don’t have to keep carrying empty classrooms or cafeterias, especially when we know how that funding breaks out,” Ozuna said. “It’s not like … facilities is a tiny percentage of our budget. It’s a huge part of our budget.”
