|
Only have a minute? Listen instead
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Brownsville Independent School District trustees on Thursday unanimously approved a $579 million operating budget for 2023-24, a one-time $1,000 employee-retention stipend and made contingencies for a budget process that is in limbo pending public education funding decisions in Austin.
By law, BISD is required to pass a balanced budget in time for the start of the new school year on July 1.
The $1,000 stipend is for all full-time and permanent part-time employees who are employed as of July 1, 2023. It will be distributed on Aug. 10, 2023.
The board also called a tax ratification election for Nov. 7. If voters approve, the TRE would allow BISD to move the tax levy for maintenance and operations to employee compensation, allowing the district to fund raises of 2% from midpoint for all employees across all pay grades.
Trustee Daniella Lopez Valdez made the motion to approve the budget and agreed to amend the stipend ask to $1,000 at the urging of Trustee Minerva Pena. Superintendent Rene Gutierrez sought the board’s clearance to take some of the money from the fund balance, and members agreed.
“The fight is with the governor up there in Texas,” Lopez Valdez said, referencing the lobbying effort in Austin by BISD members. “Our employees deserve more and that is why we’re up there fighting for them.”
Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to call the Legislature into special session soon to address education funding. Abbott has tied teacher pay raises to approval of a controversial school voucher program.
Teachers had hoped this would be the year the Legislature would approve a substantial across-the-board pay raise for them, with the Legislature presiding over a $33 billion state surplus. Lawmakers are at an impasse over what to do about education funding.
The board approved a budget plan for two possible scenarios: That voters approve the TRE and that they do not.
>> If the TRE is approved, employees would receive the $1,000 stipend in addition to the 2% pay raises.
>> If the TRE is rejected, employees would receive only the $1,000 stipend and the district would continue to operate under the current 2022-23 budget.
Explaining the options before the vote, Deputy Superintendent for Business and Operations Nellie Cantu said BISD property taxes would decrease whether or not the TRE is approved.
The board hired Austin-based consultants Moak Casey to conduct the required efficiency audit and approved the timeline for holding the TRE election.
The board learned at the meeting that Gutierrez has been named Regional Superintendent of the Year by the Region One Educational Service Center in Edinburg.
Trustees celebrated with a special cake for the occasion after the budget was approved. This is the second time Gutierrez has received the honor. The first was when he was superintendent of the Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District.
