Dear Tomball ISD Faculty and Staff,
I hope you are enjoying well-deserved time off this summer. Tomball ISD remains fully committed to attracting and keeping the best faculty and staff through a competitive compensation package.
Over the months there have been several differing reports through mainstream and social media on a bill called House Bill 3 which was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor. It is a comprehensive bill which addresses school financing, required programming, and property tax relief. Portions of this bill relate to salary increases for Texas public school employees. As the bill underwent several different versions, the language related to the salary increases changed many times, so consequently, the media reports also varied in their explanation of the bill. For example, in earlier versions of the bill there was a provision for a one-time only state-funded bonus for classroom teachers, while later versions bounced between required increases in terms of actual dollars or percentages.
Traditionally, when the state has provided increased funding for pay raises we have seen either a particular dollar amount or a required percentage increase. This bill, however, was exceptional in that it did not provide for an across-the-board increase. The major function of the bill was to redesign how districts are funded by the state. There was a major overhaul to the system under which districts have been funded for several decades. House Bill 3 removed several elements which previously had provided key funding sources for Tomball ISD. The major changes were in these areas:
• Targeted (or weighted) funding for special programs and demographic indicators, including a shift towards increased funding for districts with higher rates of economically disadvantaged students and decreased funding for districts with lower rates of economically disadvantaged students;
• Removal of the Cost of Education Index (CEI), which is an important adjustment for districts in regions with higher operating costs; and
• Immediate and future limitations on local property tax revenue, which is an important source of revenue for Tomball ISD.
While many districts across the State of Texas saw impressive gains in funding due to the new formula for allocations; Tomball ISD, unfortunately, was not one of them and ranks in the bottom 10% for gains across the state. Please know that the entire School Board and administrative team advocated directly to our legislators for a more beneficial outcome for Tomball ISD, including multiple visits to Austin, impact reports, and a myriad of other communications. Disappointingly, our State Senators and House of Representatives supported a version of the bill with a very low benefit for the district.
The portion of the bill related to pay increases was uncharacteristically tied to the amount of funding which a district gained under the new funding system. Districts are required to allocate 30% of the gain in funding to salary increases with 75% of that amount reserved for classroom teachers, counselors, nurses, and librarians. However, there are still some very misleading reports in the media with headlines such as “Teachers to see a $4,000 increase in pay” which misrepresent the funding situation of individual districts. In reading or hearing media reports, please keep in mind that funding was not increased equally or even proportionally to districts. Some local districts of equal size saw increases in funding over 600% of Tomball’s increase. Following the same rule of allocating 30% of the gain to pay raises results in a different much higher amount to be allocated towards salary increases. This has led to the reports of several high-gains districts being required to fund impressive pay raises, while the low-gains districts are being challenged with not only an insufficient increase in overall funding, but a lower source from which to fund an increase in educator salaries.
Despite the meager increase, the district remains committed to increasing salaries and is actually planning on going above and beyond the requirements of the law. As we navigate the next few years through this unfortunate funding situation which at this point is out of our control, we will steadfastly leverage every resource which is within our control to assure our competitive edge in terms of salaries and resources.
Compensation is of course a sensitive issue, one the administration and the School Board take very seriously. We value our employees and understand the effort required to make our district the high caliber district that it is today. We take pride that under the prior funding system the district had been able to fund annual raises of 2%-3% even in times that other districts did not. We continue to be dedicated to providing the highest increase that our funding and budget can allow. If we followed the 30% requirement that HB3 required, Tomball ISD employees would have only seen an increase of approximately 1%. This would be unacceptable for Tomball ISD. It should be noted that the annual district budget had to be approved during the regular June meeting of the School Board before the start of our new year in July. This was the same day the Governor signed the new bill into law. Based on the data and information we had at the time, the June budget included approval for a 2% raise. We are frequently getting more information and additional guidance from the Commissioner on the impact of HB3 and how it will affect our district. We continue to analyze this data and assess our available resources as HB3 is better understood. It is possible that the district may be able to amend the current increase in the near future. Please understand that while the district did not proportionally benefit from the new school funding system to the same extent as some other districts, we take pride in continuing to have an attractive and competitive compensation package for our staff members and remain committed to allocating our resources on their behalf and improving the quality and conditions of their employment.
We are all looking forward to another great year in Tomball ISD – remember we are not just a district, but a destination!!
Sincerely,
Dr. Martha Salazar-Zamora
