With a vote of 5-1, HISD’s
Board of Education passed the budget for the 2019-2020 school year that will
increase the district’s minimum wage from $12 an hour to $14 an hour.
Trustees proposed and adopted
an amendment that included $17 million in department cuts but any staff
reductions as a result would be offset by utilizing fund balance.
The spending plan mandates
that district employees will see no increase in health insurance premiums.
The budget approved provides teachers,
full-time counselors, full-time nurses, full-time librarians and other
educational professionals with raises ranging from 3.5 percent to 8 percent,
depending on years of service in HISD.
Trustees also approved
increasing bus drivers’ minimum wage to $18/an hour.
The board also approved an
amendment to provide no raises for staff earning more than $75,000 per
year. Instead, these employees would receive
a one-time bonus of $1000 and two extra vacation days.
HISD’s administrators had
presented a balanced budget for consideration to the Board of Education that
included raises for every district employee and no staff reductions.
Several other amendments were
made by Trustees which administrators will be analyzing over the next several
days to incorporate into the budget.