McAllen ISD to restore teacher planning periods; board asks administration for scheduling scenarios that preserve special‑education minutes

Superintendent Dr. Alberto Gutierrez told trustees Wednesday that the district will include planning periods for teachers in the proposed 2025–26 budget and directed master schedulers to prepare schedules that return planning time for affected staff.

Why it matters: teachers and principals had pressed the board to restore planning periods after the district reduced them during an earlier budget cycle. Trustees and administration discussed multiple options for who would receive planning time, the cost of restoring it fully versus partially, and the long‑term sustainability of a recurring planning‑period expense.

What the board heard

Administration presented several scenarios for returning planning time at the high‑school and middle‑school levels. District staff said a full restoration for all high‑school teachers would add roughly $1.15 million–$1.4 million in recurring costs, depending on fringe calculations and which positions qualify; administrators also presented a lower‑cost “no‑cost” model that returns planning to a subset of teachers by redistributing current staffing and avoiding new hires.

Trustees voiced differing priorities but broad support for returning planning periods. Trustee comments ranged from urging immediate restoration for all teachers to cautioning that recurring costs could create future budget stress if state funding trends continue downward. Trustee voices repeatedly emphasized teacher workload and student impact.

Board direction and next steps

Superintendent Gutierrez announced that administration will "put the planning period back" into the budget and asked master schedulers to include planning periods for all teachers so the schedules can be completed by June. Gutierrez said the board will then work from that budgeted amount to identify other budget reductions if necessary.

Administrators and trustees also agreed to develop scheduling scenarios for elementary, middle and high schools that preserve the 405 instructional minutes required in many ARD accommodations. The board asked that only options meeting those instructional‑minutes requirements be presented to stakeholders for a vote or survey; administration said it will post scenarios and run a district survey before the June meetings.

Quotes

"If we do bring it back, it's one of those that we will never be able to ever consider it again. And I'm okay with that if everybody's okay with that," Superintendent Dr. Alberto Gutierrez said as he directed staff to include planning periods in the proposed budget.

"I really appreciate the work that the administration did in bringing this option that you're with no cost, because it shows that we can do it," Trustee Regalado said while urging the board to consider full restoration and budget accordingly.

Process and compliance notes

Administration emphasized that changes to the student instructional day would trigger required annual ARD reviews for students with individualized education programs if total instructional minutes change; trustees instructed staff not to present scheduling options that would reduce a student’s required minutes without reconvening ARDs. Several trustees asked that parent and teacher survey data be included in any decision about elementary start/stop times.

Ending

Master schedulers were directed to update schedules to include planning periods and to return to the board with scheduling scenarios and budgetary implications in advance of the June 24 public hearing and budget adoption process.