CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The leader of the Corpus Christi chapter of the American Federation of Teachers says CCISD teachers and employees are getting shortchanged by the district's proposal for pay increases in the upcoming school year.
As we reported, the pay increases would range from three to four percent. Teachers, nurses and librarians with more than five years experience would get the largest raises.
Dr. Nancy Vera said she would like to see bigger raises, based on what other school districts across Texas are doing.
"We're seeing minimal raises of five to six percent, and up to 16 percent in other districts," Vera told KRIS 6 News.
The pay raises were part of House Bill 3, the school finance bill passed by state lawmakers during the most recent legislative session. Under that measure, school districts are required to spend at least 30 percent of the increase in funding to raise salaries.
Vera said that CCISD hasn't released the total of the funding increase, which makes her suspicious about the amount of the proposed raises. She added that other districts are even going beyond the 30 percent mandate to give bigger raises to their teachers. She would like CCISD to do the same.
"How much of that 70 percent is he allotting for employee salaries and how much is CCISD putting in for employee salaries? I think we're being short-changed," Vera said.
Vera also alleged that CCISD teachers and employees weren't allowed to give input before this proposal was released.
"When somebody just makes a decision from on high and says, 'This is what the raises are going to be and this what my proposal is,' we're going to push back. We know there's more money there. We just want more transparency."
Vera is hoping that CCISD school board members won't take a vote on the pay raises during their budget workshop on Monday. She plans to meet with the superintendent the following day.
