ARGYLE - School district employees will receive pay increases in September that may or may not be reflected in their paychecks.
The Argyle school board has approved a $500 pay increase for employees on the teacher salary schedule and a 2 percent raise for all other district employees. Board members voted 6-0 on the proposal at Monday's meeting.
The pay increases, district officials say, will help offset employees' rising monthly insurance premiums.
In some cases, the pay increase may not compensate for the insurance increase, Superintendent Telena Wright said.
"Most employees will not see an increase on paychecks because of the insurance increase. Some will even see a decrease," she wrote in an e-mail Tuesday.
The first checks for the 2011-12 fiscal year will be distributed Sept. 15.
Four different insurance plans are offered to Argyle school employees. According to district documents, depending on the plan that an employee has selected, they could see their monthly insurance payments deducted from employee paychecks increase anywhere from nearly 12 percent to more than 200 percent. For example, the cost for the premium plan selected by most employees would increase 26 percent, or $38 per month, for employee coverage only, and nearly 16 percent, or $60 a month, for employees and children.
The salary increases approved Monday will increase every step of the teacher salary schedule by $500. Starting pay for first-year teachers and nurses will be $44,630, and starting pay for librarians and counselors with master's degrees will increase to $46,130. The increases exclude extracurricular and separate stipends. All other employees will receive 2 percent salary increases.
The total cost for the pay increases are projected to total about $186,000.
Wright said Monday that the pay increases are being funded by a one-time federal grant of $295,071 being allocated to the district through the Education Jobs Fund. The grant provides funding in assisting states in the saving or creation of jobs for school-level employees.
Randy McKellar, Argyle school board president, said he understands the financial strain felt by employees and hopes that the pay increase will provide some relief.
"It does let our staff know that we appreciate their efforts," he said. "We think they're doing a good job, and this is one of the ways that we can acknowledge that."
Board members, including McKellar, expressed concern for the district's fiscal health beyond the 2011-12 year.
In response, Wright said the district has a plan for cutting expenditures for 2012-13. That plan could include revisiting plans for bus runs and custodial contracts.
McKellar said school board members are interested in fiscal projections for the 2012-13 year.
He said if the worst-case scenarios play out, the district might need to make "some harder decisions" for 2012-13.
In a separate discussion Monday, school board members continued a review of the 2011-12 budget. According to budget documents, expenditures for the year are projected to total more than $15 million, a $368,000 decrease from the current year's budget. It's expected the district will lose $700,000 in state revenue in the upcoming year.
The school board is considering raising the property tax rate by 3 cents, from $1.44 to $1.47 per $100 valuation, to cover the district's debt service. The increase would not affect the general operating budget.
School board members plan to meet at 6 p.m. Aug. 22 to hear public comments on the budget and tax rate. Trustees could vote that evening on adopting the budget and tax rate.
BRITNEY TABOR can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her e-mail address is btabor@dentonrc.com.
IN OTHER ACTION
Also at Monday's meeting, Argyle school board members:
* Agreed to retain the district supplemental pay schedule with no increases or decreases.
* Approved the purchase of a new hot water heater, at a cost of $14,000.
* Approved a change in local board policy reflecting the deletion of the district drug testing policy, after $35,000 earmarked for testing students participating in University Interscholastic League activities was cut from the budget; and deleted part of a policy that related to the random drug testing of students in UIL activities.
* Suspended a portion of a policy for the 2011-12 year that required fifth- and eighth-graders to meet standards on a state-mandated assessment as grounds for promotion to the next grade level. The state has not yet establish passing standards for STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness). Only exams and raw scores will be available.
