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'The best solution we can offer' | Judson ISD increases pay by 6% for teachers, counselors and several other positions

The press release also says other professional staff will receive a 4% raise.

SAN ANTONIO — Teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses, auxiliary staff, clerical staff, police officers and bus drivers with the Judson Independent School District will receive a 6% pay increase.

The announcement comes after a May 19 board meeting where the Judson ISD Board of Trustees passed the raise and incentive portion of the compensation plan for 2022-2023.

The press release also says other professional staff will receive a 4% raise at midpoint. The pay increase for the previous type of employees mentioned will also take place at midpoint, the district says.

On top of the increase in pay, all employees will receive a retention incentive of up to $1000, which will begin in the winter.; full-time will receive $1,000 and part-time will receive $500. Long-term substitutes will receive $400. Additionally, all hourly employees will benefit from a spring incentive of $1000.

"This is truly a historical moment for our District to be able to provide this large of a pay raise for our very deserving employees," said Dr. Jeanette Ball.

The raise and incentive proposal was developed after what the district says was careful consideration of stakeholder feedback, data reviews and assessing the urgent need for higher pay for district staff. 

The item was passed unanimously by the board.

Teachers and staff across the country, and here in the San Antonio area, have been pushing for higher wages.

On May 17, teachers and support staff at Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD were advocating for higher pay increases beyond a projected 1.5% raise that was discussed by the district earlier this year.

RELATED: 'We need to be paid our worth': SCUC ISD teachers and support staff demand more than 1.5% pay increase

“All the obstacles that we’ve had to jump through in the past three years, I think teachers are more than deserving. We need to be paid our worth right now,” said Lucas Lovelace, who teaches U.S. history at Steele High School in Cibolo.

Last week, Klein ISD outside of Houston approved a $60,000 salary for first year teachers. Dallas ISD also has that $60,000 staring salary up for approval this week.

The starting salary for teachers in the San Antonio ISD last year was just over $54,000, a staggering $6,000 less.

Other large districts in the region like Southwest ISD and Harlandale ISD offered at least a thousand dollars more for new teachers.  Northside ISD offered over $2,000 more for first year teachers.

According to a report by the Texas American Federation of Teachers, 66 percent of school employees have considered leaving their job in the last year. The same report also said 34 percent of Texas AFT members ranked salary as the number one workplace concern.

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