Trustees talk employee compensation

Plano ISD employees will receive a raise next year, but the amount has yet to be determined. It is likely that the increase will be in the neighborhood of 2.5 to 3 percent, although the exact amount will not be set until May 15.

Richard Matkin, the district's interim superintendent, said offering a salary increase this year is important since no increase was offered prior to the 2011-2012 school year. He said several area districts are considering raises in the 2-3 percent range, so Plano needs to offer at least that much to stay competitive.

"We need to go forward with some sort of compensation plan where our employees truly think they are at the top of the heap," Matkin told the board.

A 3 percent salary increase would cost the district $7.9 million and result in teachers with bachelor's degrees receiving an additional $1,554, compared to $1,614 for teachers with master's degrees. A 2.5 percent increase would cost $6.6 million and result in raises of $1,295 and $1,345 respectively for teachers.

Trustee Missy Bender said the district has worked hard to be among the top schools in terms of salary, and that needs to continue into the next biennium.

"It is very important to me that we continue with the strategy that the district has laid out for a couple of years," she said. "... We want to be in the top quartile of our peer districts in the area. We kind of got a bye on that last year because everything remained pretty much stable because nobody gave a raise. Just personally, I don't want to do anything that jeopardizes our placement in that quartile group."

One of the main obstacles facing the district is the uncertainty of what the future holds. With the state currently facing a number of lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the public education funding mechanism, districts have no way of knowing how much money they will receive beginning in the 2013-2014 school year. As a result, trustees said they need to be cautious when handing out raises.

"We do need to be cognizant that we take care of our current employees, but we also need to be prepared for the 'what ifs' in 2014," said Trustee David Stolle. "I am confident we are going to win the lawsuit, but I am not confident that the next funding mechanism is going to be any better. I don't want to spend down the fund balance to the point where we wake up in a new world with a new finance system and go, 'holy cow, we are in real big trouble.'"

Matkin said one way to ensure the district is not overextended is to offer something like a 1.5 percent raise, and a one-time payment of 1.5 percent. The net result is a 3 percent salary increase, but only 1.5 percent of that would carry over into the next school year. At that time, the district could consider raising salaries again, offering a second one-time payment or doing nothing.

Board President Tammy Richards said the district needed to show its commitment to its employees, and said she liked the flexibility the district would have by splitting the increase between a raise and a one-time payment.

The district will have a fund balance of about $160 million at the beginning of the next fiscal year, well above the $87 million, or 20 percent of the budget, required by board policy. Matkin said with the state cracking down on districts for having large fund balances, PISD needs to spend some of its fund balance in case the state begins to cut funding from districts with fund balances it deems excessive.

A meeting has been called for 6 p.m. on May 15 where the district will set its tax rate and also approve a compensation plan.

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