SAN BENITO — It’s always a hot topic regardless of where you work or who you work for – salaries and benefits.
School officials discussed these often-touchy subjects last week, all in an effort to find some remedies to concerns.
At the top of the list of importance for the San Benito School District are compensation and policy.
In keeping with the school board’s commitment to meeting the needs of staff, the board recently revised an important board policy and made strides on a new compensation plan.
Last week, the board of trustees approved revisions to local DEC policy.
This is related to the reimbursement of state days upon separation from the district, said Superintendent Dr. Adrian Vega.
The revision allows employees to receive reimbursement of state and local days up to a maximum of 30 days combined upon separation from the district.
“The revision policy also deleted the section that required contractual employees to provide a written notice at least 90 days before the last of employment,” Vega said.
Non-contractual employees are also exempt from providing a written notice at least two weeks before their last day of employment.
In addition, the board also wants to ensure that staff members are compensated well.
For months, Vega said the district has asked the Texas Association of Schools Boards or TASB to conduct a comprehensive compensation study.
This will lead the district to a new compensation plan.
Vega said he will meet with TASB regularly to discuss study findings.
He will then update the school board.
Once the study is approved, the district finance department will be developing the new budget to reflect the new compensation plan.
To put that into perspective, according to the new hire teachers scale provided by the district’s human resource department, teachers, librarians, and nurses are paid about the same.
This group of employees with zero experience earns about $42,500 annually compared to the same positions with 10 years of experience, which earn about $46,700 annually.
Those numbers could change for the better with a new compensation plan.
Vega assures he will keep everyone updated as the study and plan progress.
