CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Corpus Christi Independent School District approved a district budget for next year during a specially called meeting on Monday.
The $332.5 million package includes raises and stipends for teachers and staff.
Tessa Vela is a teacher at Zavalla Elementary School. She said she's excited to see that the district is placing a higher importance on teachers.
"I'm happy to see that they've taken teachers into consideration in this way but I'm a little disappointed with the numbers," she said. "I think that when you consider teacher salaries you need to take into account the actual hours worked. Not just contract hours."
CCISD Deputy Superintendent of Business and Support Services, Karen Griffith, said the district is working hard to keep state dollars from dwindling, especially if there is a reduction in property taxes.
"Don't know how they're going to make that up because essentially the state makes up the difference that we lose locally," she said. "So that would be a question as to where the state would get that additional funding. And districts right now are facing a short fall because of inflation. And they haven't increased the basic allotment, which is the basic amount of money that we need to educate students."
The budget calls for teachers, nurses, librarians, and counselors with zero to five years of service to receive a 1 percent raise, with a 1.5 percent increase for those over five years.
Starting wages for hourly staff go up to $13 per hour, and all auxiliary positions will see an increase of 50 cents per hour.
Eligible employees will receive a $500 stipend in September and a 3 percent stipend in June. The adoption happened on Monday so that the district could successfully meet financial deadlines for the new year.
"I just think there's a lot more progress that needs to be made," she said.
After Wednesday, district offices will be closed until July 5.
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