HISD board approves $1.6 billion budget
The Houston school board voted 7-0 this evening to approve a $1.6 billion spending plan that, as we reported in today's paper, includes modest raises for some teachers. Trustees Harvin Moore and Larry Marshall were absent. Moore is out of the country. I'm not sure about Marshall.
Before the vote, Andy Dewey, the vice president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, told the trustees and the administration that their comments about not having enough money in the budget to fund raises for all employees were unfounded. He noted, for example, that the district is spending $29.5 million for the ASPIRE performance bonuses. Some of that money, he said, could go toward across-the-board salary bumps. A 1 percent raise for non-teaching employees would cost between $15 million and $17 million. Some of the ASPIRE money comes from grants dedicated to performance pay, so it's unclear how much of it could have covered traditional raises. It didn't matter though because none of the board members offered to amend the budget.
Wretha Thomas, the president of the Houston Educational Support Personnel union, said
