Approve Retention Bonuses and Raise Starting Teacher Salary to $61,000
The Aldine ISD Board of Trustees approved pay raises for all employees and employee bonus retention during the May 17 Board meeting. The retention bonus will be determined by the service time an Aldine ISD employee has spent with the district and will be paid in the spring of 2023. Trustees also approved raising the starting teacher salary from $58,000 to $61,000.
“I am extremely thankful to our Trustees for recognizing our staff’s hard work over these last few years and the challenges they have overcome with COVID-19. Now, all of us are dealing with tough economic times,” said Aldine ISD Superintendent Dr. LaTonya M. Goffney. “This increase reflects the Board’s and district’s ongoing commitment to remaining competitive in recruiting and retaining employees prepared and determined to offer meaningful learning experiences every day to our students. This is exactly why the increase in the starting teacher salary, from $58,000 to $61,000, is significant. The retention bonuses show our employees that their loyalty to serving in Aldine ISD will be handsomely rewarded.”
Board President Randy Bates said he and his fellow Trustees believed it was important to reward Aldine’s staff.
“It is important to recognize that all teachers and staff deserve more money than our district can give this year, especially during these tough times recovering from a global pandemic,” Bates said. “I am proud that we worked to prioritize increased compensation for all employees.”
“We are pleased we could offer our employees raises and award them for their years of service to our wonderful district,” Mr. Bates continued. “Thanks to the leadership of Dr. Goffney and our Finance Department, the district is in sound financial shape and has allowed us to provide our employees with these raises and retention bonuses. We also felt it was important to keep pace with our neighboring districts by providing new teachers with a very competitive first-year salary increase.”
All exempt employees will receive a 3% raise, while non-exempt employees (bus drivers, custodians, and clerical) will receive a $1,500 raise.
As for the retention bonuses, employees with 1-4 years of experience with Aldine ISD will receive $1,500, while employees with 5-10 years of experience with Aldine ISD will receive $3,000, and employees with 11-plus years of experience with Aldine ISD will receive $5,000.
The raises will come from local funds, while the bonuses will come from Esser funds.