Lockhart Independent School District’s Board of Trustees approved the 2019-2020 budget, totaling $62.7 million at its regular meeting Monday night. Included within the budget is $39.8 million for employee compensation and benefits.
Teachers with five years or fewer of service will receive a $2,300 increase. Teachers with six or more years of service will receive a $3,000 increase. The district also provided additional increases for teachers with 11-23 years of service in response to findings of a Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) pay study that found the district’s pay for more veteran teachers was in need of adjustment. Officials say the move helps LISD to be more competitive with other districts. Overall, school district teacher pay raises range from 4.3 percent to 8 percent of the median teacher salary, depending on years of service.
Campus principals, assistant principals, athletic trainers, PT/Adaptive physical education teachers, special education assessment staff, and speech language pathologists will receive a $3,000 increase. Other non-teaching district staff will receive an increase of 3 percent of the midpoint of the 2019-2020 salary scales.
The 2019-2020 budget also provides for five additional full-time positions for art and music teachers, which were approved at a special Board meeting earlier this month. In response to feedback from parents regarding school safety, the district is also hiring five teacher aides for the elementary level as well as a social emotional counselor for the district. This new counselor will teach social-emotional skills to students in small groups and individually at the secondary level, in line with the district’s philosophy of educating the whole child.
Lockhart High School will gain four new positions due to student population growth to teach science, American Sign Language, social studies, and provide resource and inclusion for students receiving special education services. Lockhart Junior High School will also add a resource and inclusion teacher for its growing population.
“Lockhart ISD is fortunate to have a Board that is heavily invested in supporting our teachers and staff to best meet the needs of our growing student population while ensuring we are responsible and good stewards of public resources,” said Superintendent Mark Estrada. “We are proud to have a compensation plan that pays our teachers and staff beyond what was required through legislation. We have a budget that increases pay for our staff at levels we have not been able to do in recent years. It provides additional positions to attend to the needs of the whole child as well as to meet the needs of the district’s fast growth.”
In response to criteria within the newly signed House Bill 3, district leadership is required to reduce the total tax rate by 7 cents. The district is proposing a total tax rate of $1.26236 per $100 property value, which is 7 cents lower than the 2018 tax rate of $1.33236. The final approval of the new tax rate will not occur until August or September this year.
