Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Workforce Compensation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Trustees approve 'hold-harmless' stipend schedule for athletics and fine arts; board asks for continued fine-arts review
Summary
After months of review, Seguin ISD trustees approved a district stipend schedule option that holds current coaches and fine-arts staff "whole" for 2025–26 while updating base stipends for new hires to match regional comparators; board members asked administration to return with additional fine-arts equity analysis once a coordinator is on staff.
The Seguin ISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve a district stipend schedule that preserves (“holds harmless”) current athletic and fine-arts employees’ total stipend compensation for 2025–26 while increasing base stipend amounts for new hires to better match neighboring districts.
What the board approved: The administration presented two options. Option 1 (approved) holds harmless existing employees who currently receive stipends plus extra paid days by converting the current pay into an equivalent guaranteed total (so that current staff do not take a pay cut as long as they remain in the same assignment) and, simultaneously, raises the baseline stipend amounts that will apply to new hires so the district remains competitive in Region 20. Option 2 would have introduced modest reductions for a small number of current positions and produced limited savings; trustees chose the hold-harmless approach.
Rationale and input: Administration said the district compared stipends across neighboring Region 20 districts and created a spreadsheet with existing stipends, extra-day payments and recommended baseline increases. Athletic leaders and some fine-arts staff participated in the review process and the athletic director told the board he supported the hold-harmless approach to avoid losing veteran coaches in a tight hiring market. Fine-arts teachers present in the meeting described extensive out-of-contract hours and asked for a follow-up review focused on equitable pay given program size and expectations.
Budget impact and next steps: Administration said the overall cost impact of Option 1 is modest in the current-year budget picture and that additional stipend adjustments could be brought back once a new fine-arts coordinator is in place; trustees directed staff to return with further fine-arts stipend detail and equity recommendations. The board approved the stipend schedule 7–0.
Ending: Trustees and staff agreed to keep stipend schedules under annual review and to direct TASB or district staff to conduct a deeper stipend-equity review for fine arts during the summer.
