Pay raises for Ector County ISD employees will be considered when the district Board of Trustees meets in June to approve the budget.
The board discussed the increases during the April 20 meeting and Superintendent Scott Muri expanded on it during his media call Wednesday.
He also reminded families that today (Friday) is vacation day for students and a professional development day for district staff.
“They (trustees) are currently considering multiple options of which they’re all excited. We would like to provide a 3 percent raise to all salaried employees in ECISD. In addition to that, we would like to raise the minimum teachers’ salary to $57,000 per year. Currently our starting teachers get $54,250,” Muri said.
“We’d also like to give a 4 percent across-the-board raise to hourly employees in ECISD,” he added. “… And finally we’d like to raise our minimum wage for hourly employees to a minimum of $12 an hour. Currently, it’s $11.21.”
Additionally, Muri said, the district wants to provide a one-time payment of $750 to all employees of ECISD.
“The pandemic has created really unusual circumstances for every employee in ECISD. Whatever the role may happen to be — whether it’s teacher, principal, cafeteria (worker), custodian — everyone has taken on additional responsibilities during this pandemic and we would like to make sure that we retain our very best employees and acknowledge the significant work that they’ve done. In addition to that, we have opportunities to recruit individuals in ECISD. We’re in need of more teachers custodians, etc., and we want to make sure that we fill vacancies,” Muri said.
With this one-time bonus and continuing compensation, Muri said the district feels confident that it will put ECISD in a good position within the region and across the state as it recruits, attracts and retains “the highest caliber of employees for the students in ECISD.”
Muri said the raise will be paid for out of the district’s general fund, including funding from the voter approved tax ratification election and House Bill 3. It will not require a tax increase.
If approved, Muri said the raise would be seen in the first paycheck of the new school year.
Muri also announced a Permian Basin Education Leadership Summit on May 5 at the Bush Convention Center in Midland. The summit is being supported by the Permian Strategic Partnership and the Education Partnership of the Permian Basin.
He added that all educational leaders, such as superintendents and their teams, from West Texas and New Mexico are invited.
“Our purpose is to think about the incredible opportunity we have using the federal stimulus dollars that are being transitioned from the federal government to districts across the Permian Basin,” Muri said. “We know that this one-time investment is significant. We want to make sure that strategically we are using those dollars to fully benefit the children that we serve, our staff members, as well as our community.”
On summer learning, Muri said opportunities will be available for students from prekindergarten through 12th grade.
“… This summer we have a high level of engaging, rigorous and exciting experiences. We’ve got a group of teachers and support professionals that have lined up and are excited to bring together some really fascinating exploratory opportunities for those children,” Muri said. “In addition, we have opportunities for middle school and high school students. … We’ve invested $250,000 in some robotics opportunities and whether you are prek or a senior in high school, robotics will kind of take over our summer learning experience.”
Muri said people can visit the ECISD website for more information.
