Ector County ISD’s compensation plan for 2023-24 is now official, thanks to its recent approval by the board of trustees.
“The compensation plan makes some very strategic investments in the employees of ECISD. First, we’ll start with teachers. The starting salaries for teachers in ECISD will be $60,600 again making us the highest paying starting teachers salary in the region,” Superintendent Scott Muri said in his weekly media call Wednesday.
“We’re excited to continue to lead in that area. That’s good news for our teachers,” he added.
Also included was a 3 percent raise for all employees across the system.
“Our hourly employees make $15 (an hour) and above and so (we’re) really excited that we’re providing a healthy wage for our hourly employees. The board of trustees has been making investments in our hourly employees for several years now,” Muri said.
He added that in addition to their basic compensation, teachers have access to stackable opportunities.
“So in ECISD, again, a starting teacher salary with zero years of experience makes $60,600. On the other side of that, teachers with stackable opportunities can make well over $100,000 a year in compensation. We’ll continue to work on that and provide additional opportunities for our teachers to add to their stackable options,” Muri said.
“(We’re) also beginning to expand that, so this year for the first time we’ll provide some incentives for principals in ECISD to add to their compensation through stackable opportunities. We will offer for the first time a principal incentive allotment recognizing the top 15 percent of principals in ECISD,” Muri said.
The two people in ECISD that have the greatest impact on student achievement are the teacher and the principal.
“We want to invest strategically in those two types of individuals within the organization as they have the greatest effect upon children,” he added.
He expressed appreciation to the board of trustees for the unanimous support for the compensation package and said it is “great news” for ECISD employees.
On a separate item, Muri said several district employees were presenting at Fusion, the NWEA Education Conference in Atlanta, Ga. NWEA stands for Northwest Evaluation Association.
“We’ve done quite a bit of work with NWEA’s MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) assessment. Our teachers and leaders use that to monitor the academic growth of our students,” Muri said. “It has really driven a lot of the effective work that we’ve done in the classroom relationship between teachers and students. We also use that in our virtual tutoring opportunities.”
Virtual tutoring companies that work with the district use the assessment tool to help inform the work that they do with children.
“We’ve seen such great success because of that assessment tool and the way we are using it in ECISD (that) we were asked to present at a national conference sharing the good news of ECISD with school districts across the country so that they can learn from the work that we’re doing and improve outcomes for children within their own school systems,” Muri said.
He also reminded parents that registration for the ’23-24 school year begins Wednesday, July 19.
“We have transitioned to a new registration system, so moms and dads, you will have access to the system on your cell phone. It is much easier to navigate; much more convenient to parents that will be registering students within ECISD,” Muri said.
Parents can visit their child’s school, the district website at ectorcountyisd.org, or download the information and use the app on your phone.
“More information will be coming about that,” he said.
District offices will be closed Monday and Tuesday, open July 5 and 6 and closed July 7. Summer learning will be available July 5 and 6.
On another topic, Muri was asked if ECISD would consider consolidating some departments to avoid duplication of services.
“One of my favorite quotes is a W. Edwards Deming quote and he says your organization is perfectly designed to achieve the results that you’re achieving. So from an organizational perspective you always want to start with results … When we look at the results that we’re achieving — and when I talk about results it’s really results for kids — academic results. Those are the results that are most significant for us and so if the design of the organization is creating the right type of results, then we have the right design.”
Over the last four years, Muri said ECISD has made quite a few changes and has seen significant improvement in students’ academic performance.
“When we see results that are not trending in the direction that we need them to trend, whether academically or other areas, perhaps financial or whatever the case may be, those are the times that you want to make some adjustments in the way that you’re organized … If our data continue to show progress, then we know that the design that we have in place is effective, but the moment that we start to see results that are not successful or that we don’t like then we will change the design of the organization so that we can create more effective results,” Muri said.
The state legislature has yet to approve any money for public education this year. The last time there was an increase in the basic allotment, funds that go to each school district from the state to pay for a basic level of education for each student, was 2019.
“Any raise that any district has given between 2019 and today is a direct result of the board of trustees of those particular school districts. As public school entities, we will continue to work with our state legislature — both the House and the Senate — to make sure that public schools are appropriately funded. Unfortunately, we have to constantly continue to advocate for those dollars and we will continue to do that. Ultimately, the decision makers, the members of the House and the Senate, they are the ones that determine the dollars that flow to the school systems,” Muri said.
