Eagle Pass Independent School District Board of Trustees approve pay raises

By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2014, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.

The Eagle Pass Independent School District (EPISD) Board of Trustees approved salary increases for the 2014-2015 school year as recommended by EPISD Superintendent Gilberto Gonzalez in order to retain, attract, and hire highly qualified employees to the EPISD at their Special Meeting held on August 5, 2014.

The salary increases includes a 3.5% increase for professionals including Teachers, Counselors, Librarians, Registered Nurses, and other professionals as per the EPISD professional hiring schedule.

The EPISD Board of Trustees also approved a professional hiring schedule with a new base starting salary of $39,000 with a $570 local pay step increase for each additional year of experience.

The EPISD Board also approved a 3.5% pay increase for Campus and Non-Campus Administrators based on a new mid-point of their respective pay range classification. Administrators who are below the new minimum of their respective pay range classification received an equity adjustment to place them at the new minimum of their respective pay range classification. Only Administrators who are below the new minimum of their respective pay range classification received the equity adjustment, announced EPISD Superintendent Gonzalez.

Gonzalez also stated that a 3.75% salary increase was also approved by the EPISD Board of Trustees for all Paraprofessionals and Manual Trades personnel within the Eagle Pass Independent School District.

The salary increases were approved by the EPISD Board of Trustees in a 6-1 split vote with Trustees Glenna Purcell, Ramon Ramirez, Hilda Martinez, Dr. Hector Alvarez, Benjamin Rodriguez, III, and Lupita Fuentes in favor while Board President Ignacio “Nacho” Saucedo voted against it.

Last year, the EPISD Board of Trustees approved a 4.2 percent pay raise for teachers and professionals in pay grades 7 through 9, totaling $2,031, as well as other pay raises, at an August 7, 2013, Special Meeting.

In addition to the 4.2 percent pay raise approved for professionals and teachers in pay grades 7 through 9 last year, the EPISD Board of Trustees approved a 3 percent pay raise for Campus Administrators in pay grades 13-20, a 2.25 percent pay raise for Non-Campus Administrators in pay grades 13-20, a 3.5 percent pay raise for Paraprofessionals in pay grades 3-6, and a 3.5 percent pay raise for Manual Trades in pay grades 052-056, totaling a cost of $2,964,906 to the EPISD Budget.