Conroe ISD board adopts $33.1 million compensation plan for 2025–26, boosts veteran teacher pay

The Conroe ISD board unanimously approved the district’s employee compensation plan for the 2025–26 school year, a package district officials estimated will cost about $33.1 million. Chief Financial Officer Karen Garza presented the plan, which uses the state’s new teacher retention allotment and adds local increases targeted at veteran and novice teachers. "The new teacher retention allotment provides for a $2,500 raise for teachers with 3 to 4 years experience and a $5,000 raise for teachers with 5 plus years of experience," Garza told trustees. The district is also proposing additional local supplements: $300 for teachers with 5–9 years of experience and $500 for teachers with 10+ years, which the administration said produces an average increase of 8.2 percent for teachers with five or more years of service. Garza said novice teachers (1–2 years) would receive $2,100 and that the recommended starting teacher salary would be $63,500. The plan includes midpoint increases for non‑instructional pay groups: a 6 percent midpoint raise for auxiliary, administrative support and instructional pay groups; 4 percent for police and technology groups; and 3.5 percent for administrative education and administrative business pay groups. Substitute pay would increase by $5 per day for teacher substitutes and by $10 per day for paraprofessional substitutes. Board members publicly thanked staff for multiple scenarios and for focusing on veteran teachers. Trustees also noted an expanded special education staffing proposal in the package. Trustee May said the board will continue efforts to find efficiencies and expand targeted incentives in future years. The board approved the compensation plan 7–0; Garza said the district would include the package in the budget it will bring back to the board for final adoption next month.