Longview ISD Approves District-Wide Pay Hike
Posted/updated on: June 12, 2013 at 11:05 am
LONGVIEW Longview ISD trustees Monday unanimously approved ending a two-year salary freeze, effectively restoring scheduled salary steps in their entirety. According to KETK and a school district news release, the vote was 6-0, with Trustee Dr. Mark Camp absent. In addition to teachers, the restored steps will be reflected in the salaries of counselors, librarians, and nurses. All other salary increases - including professional, para-professional, auxiliary, and manual trade employees — will be calculated at a rate of 4 percent of their pay grade midpoint.
Employees who hold at least one masters degree will receive an additional $1,000 stipend under the new salary scale. Doctorate degrees will earn a district employee another $1,500 stipend. The salary increases will begin at various times, depending on the employee work schedule, contract start time, or other factors.
It was about this time in 2012 that the Board of Trustees enacted a second consecutive year of frozen salaries. School officials say the move helped prevent layoffs, despite millions of dollars in slashed state funding. Even with the salary freeze, the districts salaries eclipsed those paid by surrounding school districts by at least $5,000 annually, based on 2011-12 salary schedules. Officials say Longview ISDs new salary scale is higher than any school district in East Texas, including Tyler ISD, a district with more than twice the number of students.
