TASB presents pay-maintenance plan; district staff estimate $7.1 million cost for 2% general increase

Luz Cadena of the Texas Association of School Boards presented a pay-maintenance study to the Brownsville Independent School District Board of Trustees, recommending a 2% general pay increase and targeted adjustments. Cadena told trustees the district has moved from being “6 to 10% below market” in 2019–20 to being at or above the median of its peer group for most teacher steps and many nonteacher job groups.

Cadena said the TASB model would base the general pay increase on the median teacher salary among peer districts and on adjusted range midpoints for nonteacher groups. She estimated the general 2% pay increase would cost about $5.9 million. Additional schedule and placement adjustments would add roughly $1.1 million, producing a total projected cost of about $7.1 million, which Cadena said would equal “a 2.4% increase to your current payroll budget.”

Why it matters: Trustees and district staff framed the discussion around competing to recruit and retain employees while staying within limited local resources and awaiting possible state funding. Board members pressed for district-level comparisons, for more information on police and security pay, and for a breakdown of the assumptions behind the cost model.

Cadena described the pay strategy and market peers. She said TASB used a 14-district peer group the firm has worked with the district since 2019–20; two of those peers did not participate fully in the nonteacher salary survey, leaving 12 peer districts as full comparators. Cadena said TASB also supplemented school-district data with two third‑party salary surveys (CompAnalyst and PayFactors) for positions that compete with non-education employers, such as technology and accounting jobs.

On teachers, Cadena showed the district’s teacher hiring schedule at five-year intervals and said the district is at or above the peer median at most points, with the only small dip at year five. She summarized specific stipend levels the district pays: special education general/resource stipends ranging roughly $2,500–$4,500, a high-needs stipend reported at $5,500 for certain life-skills/resource assignments, and a bilingual stipend paid at $70 per identified student with a cap of $1,260, all of which Cadena said compare at or above median peer values.

Cadena spoke through the district’s nonteacher groups as well. Highlights she gave included: central administration midpoints about 4% below market; counselor pay about 5% above market; campus administration (principals/assistant principals) about 7–8% above market; the professional/instructional-services group about 4% above market; technology about 3% below market; and police positions the least competitive, with average pay at 93% of market and midpoints at about 96%.

Trustee questions and follow-up requests focused on three items: 1) peer comparisons and whether the board can see the list of districts and their schedules; 2) the district’s authority to sustain recommended increases pending state action; and 3) police and security pay. Trustee Pena asked for the peer listing; Cadena and staff said the peer list appears on slide 4 of the TASB report and staff agreed to provide the full report to trustees. Trustee Ortiz, other board members and union speakers urged prioritizing safety roles and requested an estimate of how the recommended adjustments would move police pay toward market. Cadena said she did not have a single-line percent change for that subgroup on hand but that the recommended realignments and placement-scale adjustments would raise pay overall and that staff would deliver specific numbers.

On implementation details Cadena described placement-scale adjustments (spreading the difference between minimum and midpoint across years of service), teacher pay-equity rules (ensuring career path educator roles—counselors, DIAGs, assistant principals—are paid at least 2% above a teacher daily-rate equivalent), and a policy to ensure nonteacher hires are paid at least 1% above adjusted minimums after the general increase. She also described an extra 1% midpoint bump for administrative professional roles that would remain more than 10% below midpoint after general increases.

Board-level budget context: Superintendent Dr. Chavez and staff said the district is awaiting the legislature’s final action. Dr. Chavez referenced a House funding figure used in internal planning that equated to about $19 million for BISD in an earlier House proposal but warned that the Senate had not approved a matching plan and that the district must plan for multiple scenarios. He said the local budget currently has a set‑aside of roughly $23 million and that staff now expect to spend approximately $12–14 million of that set-aside, leaving limited local dollars available should the board want to adopt the full TASB recommendation if state funding is less than anticipated.

Public commenters: Patrick Hammes of BEST AFT and Yolanda Gonzalez of the Association of Brownsville Educators urged larger increases, arguing the district still lags higher‑paying employers and that a bigger raise (Hammes suggested $2,200 per certified employee as a target to reach the top quartile locally) would be needed to be more competitive. Hammes also urged the board to examine school consolidation if projected enrollment declines materialize.

What’s next: Trustees asked staff to return with the peer list and with detailed, subgroup-level cost impacts (particularly for police/security) and to include the TASB report materials. District staff said they will present further budget details at the next budget workshop dates already posted to the district calendar.