BISD holds line on pay

 The Brownsville Independent School District is preparing a $493 million budget for next year that envisions only a step, or cost of living, increase for teachers - and no raises for anyone else.

The budget committee of the BISD Board of Trustees met for a final time Thursday before the board adopts the budget at a special meeting next week. BISD must adopt its 2009-2010 budget by June 30. The district's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.

The decision to hold the line on wages comes despite a state mandate to give teachers, librarians, nurses and counselors a $1,790 raise. The figure is based on H.B. 3646, the school finance measure recently passed by the Texas Legislature, which uses federal economic stimulus funds to finance teacher pay raises. Texas has asked for but not yet received permission to use the economic stimulus funds. BISD's budget committee is recommending that the district hold off on teacher raises until the federal government gives the go-ahead to use stimulus funds.

H.B. 3646 requires BISD to award teacher pay raises of $60 per Weighted Average Daily Attendance, which totals $4.2 million and works out to about $1,104 per teacher, budget administrator Tony Fuller said. In addition, it requires BISD to award step increases to teachers based on the district's hiring schedule. That works out to $2.8 million, or $686 per teacher in most cases, for a total raise of $1,790.

If the federal government grants Texas permission to use stimulus funds to balance its budget, BISD would be required to grant the teacher pay raises mandated by H.B. 3646. The change could be accomplished by budget amendment, Fuller said. In discussions, the term "teachers" has been used to refer to teachers, librarians, nurses and counselors.

The fact teacher pay raises are pegged to economic stimulus funds - which in all likelihood will be available only for the current biennium - prompted a cautious response from Fuller and interim BISD Superintendent Brett Springston. They warned that the teacher raises would have to be sustained after 2012, which if the state doesn't provide funds could cause a $7 million annual drain on BISD's fund balance.

"How are we going to fund something with money that isn't going to be there when the stimulus is over," Springston asked.

The committee discussed the financial implications of H.B 3646, which also establishes target revenues and funding levels for the state's school districts. Even with no teacher step increase, BISD would be forced to use approximately $9.1million in local maintenance fund balances to balance the 2009-2010 budget, Fuller said.

The anticipated deficit comes despite $7.67 million in additional state funding, Fuller said, adding that the "excess of revenues over expenses is shrinking every year."

Fuller said dipping into fund balances is necessary, in part, because the district needs to get back on a program of replacing school buses and other vehicles. Vehicle replacement costs were left out of the current budget on a one-year basis, he said. In addition, the district faces the cost of opening three new elementary schools.

"This district is like a huge ball," Fuller said. "It just rolls."

BISD teachers have received pay raises of $1,800 for the 2004-05 school year; $2,000 for 2005-06; $4,500 for 2006-07; $2,000 for 2007-08 and $2,000 for 2008-09.

Classified personnel received a 5 percent raise in 2004-05; 6 percent in 2005-06; 6.25 percent in 2006-07; 6.5 percent in 2007-08 and 7 percent in 2008-09.

Administrators received a 3 percent raise in 2004-05 and a 4 percent raise in each of the following years through 2008-09.

Last week, budget committee members discussed funding the state-mandated teacher raises plus a 5 percent raise for classified personnel and 4 percent for administrators. After learning that the district would be dipping into fund balances, committee members asked Fuller to prepare scenarios involving smaller raises.

On Thursday, Springston cited current economic conditions, recent local layoffs, and said BISD is lucky to have been frugal during the good times so that it now does not face the prospect of layoffs.

But he said BISD should be in a conservative frame of mind. Committee members agreed and directed Fuller to prepare the budget based on a step raise for teachers and no raise for classified personnel or administrators.

BISD has a current budget of $476.6 million. BISD is Brownsville's largest employer with 7,321 current employees, according to the district's Web site.