SBISD Trustees Approve Proposed Fiscal Year 2014 Budget

Budget provides for 3 percent salary increase and funds new district initiatives

The Spring Branch ISD Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to approve a 3 percent salary increase for district employees as a part of the Fiscal Year 2014 proposed budget. The Board’s 7-0 vote occurred June 24 during its regular monthly meeting.

The salary increase will take effect in conjunction with an employee’s new contract year. Despite ongoing financial challenges, Superintendent of Schools Duncan F. Klussmann, Ed.D., said that SBISD leadership and the Board of Trustees have remained focused on providing salaries and benefits to maintain a competitive position for recruiting and retaining quality staff, and to ensure that all students are prepared for higher education and meet the district’s T-2-4 goal to double the number of graduates who earn either a technical, 2-year or 4-year degree.

Approval for the 3 percent salary increase followed a second public hearing on the proposed budget, which preserves student programs and services while focusing on programming priorities in the district’s new T-2-4 Plan. That plan includes an ambitious, stretch goal of doubling the number of students who complete some form of higher education.

Higher education is defined as a highly skilled technical certificate, military training, a two-year associate’s degree, or a four-year college degree. The new SBISD budget funds 39 teaching positions as well as several key components of the T-2-4 Plan.

These include:

• A Highly Gifted Academy to meet the needs of highly, exceptionally and profoundly gifted students in SBISD with tested IQs of 145 or above. Students in K-4 who applied for and met qualifications will be housed this school year in a school-within-a-school program at Valley Oaks Elementary School.
• An expanded Secondary Dual Language Program has opened to graduates of the district’s two-way and one-way dual language programs. Students can attend programs at Spring Forest and Spring Woods middle schools in addition to a continuing program at Westchester Academy for International Studies.
• Related T-2-4 initiatives, including Academic Advisors at the high school level to provide more direct support to students as they navigate the state’s new House Bill 5 requirements on high school graduation and the college, financial aid and scholarship application process.
• Expanded Norm-Referenced Testing, such as Stanford testing, for students up to seventh grade.

The new budget is based on the current tax rate of $1.3945, with no change or increase in that rate. The current tax rate results from a General Fund tax rate of $1.09, plus the Debt Service rate of $0.3045. By law, Debt Service funds cannot be used to support general operations including salaries.