The Lufkin ISD Board of Trustees discussed the potential 2019-20 compensation plan during its regular work session Tuesday afternoon.Chief Financial Officer Charlotte Bynum said this is probably the most excited she has ever been to present an employee compensation plan.  “This is probably the most changes, and I know it’s the biggest raise, that we’ve been allowed to give due to state’s giving us additional funds; yet we had the shortest length of time to implement it and decide what to do,” Bynum said.  The plan includes a minimum of a 5% raise for the 2019-20 salaries for all positions, which is the highest raise Bynum said she can ever remember the district giving. 

LISD will receive $10.4 million in additional funds from the state thanks to school finance reforms in House Bill 3. The bill requires districts to give a minimum of 30% of this revenue gain for salary increases. Of that 30%, exactly 75% must go to teachers, resident nurses, counselors and librarians with priority to those who have five or more years of experience. The remaining 25% of that money must go to all other employees, excluding administrators.

The plan earmarks 40% of the additional revenue for compensation. That means $3.2 million will go to teacher, librarian, counselor and RN compensation, $1.2 million for all other employees except administrators and $500,000 for administrators.

The board said it is proud of the administrators at LISD for coming up with this plan and proud of legislators like Rep. Trent Ashby (Lufkin-R) for making HB3 happen.

“This is a lot of work, and it’s very informative,” board president Scott Skelton said. “I think we’ve all heard from you (Bynum) and (Superintendent Lynn Torres) that it’s a complete overhaul. It’s almost a complete start over.”

Some positions like instructional aides and substitute teachers would receive additional compensation over the 5% raise to bring them up to market standards. Teacher starting pay would also increase to $45,510 — $11,850 above the state required starting pay for 2019-20.

“Lufkin ISD desires that our employees are paid competitively with the area market, and we value our employees, and we’re very pleased to present this salary compensation plan to you today,” Bynum said.

The board also discussed potential changes to the policy recommended by the Texas Association of School Boards. Anthony Sorola, assistant superintendent of administrative services, spoke about the changes to policies like the superintendent evaluation process, the food and nutrition management policy, and the student rights and responsibilities investigation and searches policy.

“This update 113 from TASB basically updates legal policies that were changed due to administrative rules and rulings,” Sorola said. “Some revisions to local policies are being recommended due to these changes to legal policies and also to provide better policy structure.”

Sorola also reported that of the 84 teaching positions that were left empty after resignations, 72 have been filled, five were in processing and seven were still vacant.

Tim Hobbs, purchasing and risk management coordinator, also spoke about proposals for the 2019-20 school year. He discussed bids for the worker’s compensation insurance policy, saying Texas Mutual Insurance Company had the lowest bid at $279,000, which was less than their last policy of $332,175.

The next bid was for property, casualty, liability and auto insurance from TASB at $307,832, a sharp increase from the previous year due to severe storms. He said that LISD had eight proposals for custodial supplies with one recommendation.

Out of eight vendors and two proposals, Hobbs recommended Sam’s Limousine for charter bus services for the district.

The board did not take action during this meeting. All action will be taken at the next board meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Grace Juarez’s email address is grace.juarez@lufkindailynews.com.