Mission CISD Board of Trustees Approves Compensation with Pay Increases

Texas Border Business

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Mission, Texas – The Mission Consolidated Independent School District (CISD) Board of Trustees has approved administration’s recommendations for a compensation plan that will provide some of the largest raises and compensation adjustments in several years.

The approved compensation plan reflects changes passed by the 86th Texas Legislature as well as local efforts.

“For us, this process actually began last fall when I first came on board and joined team Mission CISD,” explained Dr. Carol G. Perez, superintendent. We brought on the Texas Association of School Boards to conduct a comprehensive salary and staffing study early in the fall last year. The results helped guide us in prioritizing and developing a compensation plan that would make Mission CISD truly competitive and not only recruit the best employees for our students, but also keep our quality staff.”

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Earlier this year, district administrators worked up a modest plan that provided for equity adjustments, a teacher pay increase of $1,100, a two percent of mid-point salary increase for all other employees, improvements in supplements, and a seven percent increase in the district’s contribution for employees to the health insurance plan. Dr. Perez said this was accomplished through $4 million in reductions in payroll costs attained through attrition and improved staffing efficiency. Legislative changes from House Bill 3 (HB3) now gives districts significant flexibility in deciding how best to implement pay increases. HB3 indicates that 75% of the new funding be spent on classroom teachers, full-time librarians, full-time school counselors, and full-time school nurses, prioritizing differentiated compensation for classroom teachers with more than five years of experience. HB3 also requires districts spend 30% of new funding from the state on compensation increases to full-time district employees other than administrators each year the basic state allotment increases. The approved compensation plan exceeds the 30% requirement. 25% of the new funding may also be used by a district to increase compensation paid to other full-time district employees who are not administrators.

After passage of HB3, the district was able to make further improvements the employee compensation plans as compared to what had been presented to the Board of Trustees earlier in the budgeting process.  District employees on the School Program Professional Salary Schedule (teacher salary schedule) will see the following raises:

●     Entry level salary increase of $3,000. Starting pay for new teachers to the district with no experience is $51,250. The maximum starting pay for new teachers to the district with 20+ years experience is $61,300. 

●     1-5 years of experience: $3,500 or about 6.3% of the market median

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●     6+ years of experience: $4,000 or about 7.2% of the market median.

All other employees will now receive at least a 3% of mid-point salary increase. Plus, pay will be improved with additional equity adjustments for teachers, nurses, and other staff on the School Program Professional Salary Schedule between 7 and 20 years of experience to reduce the pay gap compared to market pay and support recruitment of experienced teachers and nurses. 

“The support of the Board of Trustees in the process we went through together has resulted in a compensation plan that addressed many needs,” Dr. Perez said. “I look forward to continuing to work with the board as we strive to make sure all of our salaries are competitive. We not only want to hire the best, we want to keep them as well. Our compensation plan has the largest impact on that need.” 

Closing pay gaps in teacher salaries as compared to neighboring districts is among the accomplishments mentioned in association with the recent extension of the superintendent’s contract with Mission CISD approved by the Board of Trustees. Dr. Perez’s contract has been extended to July 2024. In addition to the extension the board also approved 20 days of paid leave per year, and an incentive based supplement based on her annual performance evaluation.

In Dr. Perez’s first year with Mission CISD, efforts were made to reduce spending and excess staffing in some areas, saving the district approximately $4 million dollars. Solutions were implemented to eliminate a projected $1.7 million revenue shortfall in the district’s self-funded health insurance and pharmacy plan. Investment earnings were increased by almost $200,000 for the third quarter with projections of $600,000 for the coming fiscal year.

Efforts spearheaded under the leadership of Dr. Perez also brought in $113,000 in new UTRGV scholarships for the top ten percent of the 2019 graduating seniors and a new event celebrating the accomplishments of the top ten percent students. 306 students who were new to the district enrolled for the 2019-2020 school year. Dr. Perez was also the only superintendent in Region One and Region Two who was selected to nominate candidates from among the district’s teaching team for a Master’s Level Fellowship with Texas A&M. Administration worked this past year to transform two elementary schools into focused academies, and the planning year for implementing a new Early College High School program at Veterans Memorial High School have been completed. These new programs will officially begin this fall. Administration continues to focus on recent studies on continual improvement processes designed to make sure Mission CISD students are prepared to change the world through their college or career choices. 

Dr. Perez said these accomplishments, and more, were only possible due to the “total team effort” from all aspects of district operations.

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