Trustees talk budget priorities

Addressing inequities in the Ector County ISD system, staffing, salaries and upkeep of the schools were just a few of the budget priorities mentioned by members of the board of trustees at their meeting.

President Tammy Hawkins and board member Donna Smith were absent. Vice President Steve Brown chaired the meeting.

Board Secretary Carol Gregg said the district should spend what it can to support failing schools. Gregg said “you can’t buy your way out of this problem,” but there are salary enhancements, bringing in experts.

“I don’t know what the answer is, but I don’t want money to stand in the way of this priority,” Gregg said.

Her other priority is staff. She added that they have undergone real difficulty in the past few years having to deal with COVID and parents who communicate by email and text.

“I feel like we need to do more to show our appreciation to our teachers and other staff,” Gregg said.

She added that they need to improve hourly salaries for the lowest paid workers and focus on speech therapy and other specialists.

Gregg said they need to pay signing and retention bonuses, even bonuses for just making it through the year. She said there aren’t as many vacancies as they’ve had in the past, but she feels that staff is getting burned out.

Trustee Delma Abalos agreed with Gregg about tackling inequities in the schools and wants to increase pay for employees.

Abalos said she would also like to see school improvement and not waiting until a bond is voted on.

Board member Chris Stanley said he agreed with Gregg and Abalos and would also like to prioritize retention programs like AVID, athletics, fine arts and career and technical education.

He’d also like to see more professional development such as helping teachers toward their master’s degrees or potentially their PhD.

On technology, Stanley said ECISD has caught up, but they have to keep up because devices can be obsolete quickly.

He also wants to do whatever possible to raise special education up from stage 3 under state ratings to stage one.

Trustee Nelson Minyard said the district needs to continue bonuses and special education is something that’s always on his mind. He said specialists like speech pathologists are not paid enough and they are much in demand.

Brown said he echoed what the other board members said and would like to continue to move employees up on the pay scale.

Brown added that ECISD has to look at fair market salaries for skilled workers like plumbers and pay them accordingly.

Brown said he’d also like to look at the efficiencies of the programs the district is using as academic success is the district’s No. 1 priority.

He also wants to improve the appearance of campuses, especially in high visibility areas.

Superintendent Scott Muri said the district has been working with the Texas Association of School Boards on salary scales the past few years. He said officials may bring some compensation ideas to the board in the spring.

Muri said the board should get a look at a draft of next year’s budget in May.

In other business, trustees voted 5-0 to approve the pursuit of an innovative partnership with UTPB STEM Academy. A formal agreement, if reached, will be brought back to Trustees for approval, likely in March. Last week, a team from the University of Texas Permian Basin spoke with the Trustees about UTPB STEM’s history and the potential of a partnership, the board recap said.

UTPB STEM opened in 2014-15 with 308 students, and 14 teachers, in grades kindergarten through sixth. Currently the school has 770 students, and 39 teachers, grades kinder through 12. The charter is delegated to the President of UTPB, and is approved for an enrollment of up to 3,900 students. The UTPB STEM calendar is 180 days of instruction, from 7:50 a.m. until 2:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday; on Fridays the school dismisses at noon. The early dismissals allow students to continue learning online, work with tutors and interventions, and allow professional development for staff. The school utilizes project-based learning and STEM-based learning.

A future partnership with ECISD would benefit students at UTPB by giving them access to ECISD’s athletics and fine arts programs, plus ECISD could help with facilities, counseling services, transportation, and food services. ECISD would benefit by having an additional choice school option for families, a future middle school option, a collaborative partnership with shared resources between the two entities, and the continued building of the college-going culture for ECISD students.

Trustees also approved an interlocal agreement with the city to give veterinary tech students a chance to work at the animal shelter.

Executive Director of Career and Technical Education Carla Byrne said veterinary tech students undergo practicums at Angel Veterinary Clinic, Eighth Street Animal Hospital, West Texas Emergency Veterinary Clinic and Cobb Veterinary Clinic in Midland.

They have had partnerships in the past with Grandview and A to Z and Byrne hopes to continue those in the future.

Trustees voted 5-0 to accept the superintendent’s recommendation to terminate Jovan Jacob Lopez Pando’s contract.

Special presentations included the recognition of Permian High School Associate Principal Ysmael Lujan as the Region 18 Outstanding Assistant Principal of the Year by the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals, and the introduction of the four students whose artwork adorned the school board’s Christmas cards this year.