Brittany Kelley
KYLE — The Hays CISD Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve the employee compensation plan for the 2026-27 fiscal year at its April 27 meeting.
Prior to the vote, Christina Courson, chief Human Resources officer, discussed the changes at the April 20 meeting, where she stated that it “reflects the changes that have been made in the budget reductions that were announced at the end of March. So, for example, the deputy academic officer position would be removed, the campus support specialist would be removed. All the different positions that were identified for reduction will be removed.”
There will also be changes in the work calendar, such as that for the attendance clerks, and suspension in degree stipends and incentive stipends for bilingual and special education positions.
The district will need to provide a “zero year” uncertified teacher salary, per state requirement, which must be lower than the “zero year” certified pay.
Courson stated that for years, librarians have existed on the nurse and teacher scale, but that the Texas Association of School Boards has stated that they should be instead listed as academic professional scale, though they will not be losing any money.
“This allows them to keep their $2000 [degree stipend] rolled into their salary,” said Courson.
Trustee Esperanza Orosco asked about the pay and stipend for new media specialist librarians. The reason for this new “lead stipend” is because the new budget eliminated head librarians at each school, instead replacing them with one general librarian at the middle and high school levels, who will partner with the onsite library technicians.
These positions will open for internal applications within the next week to allow the impacted librarians a chance to be selected for the position.
“Everybody will have a job next year. Of the seven impacted librarians, two would be selected. There is a current vacancy at Negley Elementary [School] for a librarian. So, one of the librarians may want to be a librarian at the elementary level and I have heard that there may be two other vacancies at the elementary level. If that’s the case, then that would bring it to five [librarians with jobs]. With two remaining, one has resigned — that would be the sixth one — and the seventh one was able to be selected for a different job at their current campus,” explained Courson. “So, each one of them is being taken care of, as far as a job for next year.”
There were also 22 public education information management system clerks that were impacted, five of which are still looking for jobs.
The chief HR officer also noted that there will not be a cost of living adjustment for any staff member for the upcoming fiscal year, though teachers that received a teacher retention allotment can keep it.
“I can say on behalf of this board that this is not the comp[senation] plan that we really wanted to pursue for next year, in light of what our funding challenges are, but I appreciate the thoughtfulness you’re putting into it to bring this item forward now, so that we can have some clarity,” said trustee Byron Severance.
The item was approved 7-0.
Additionally, the trustees approved two separate items to terminate eight probationary teacher contracts and a good cause teacher termination.
The agenda documents state that “probationary teacher contracts are issued for one-year terms and may be renewed for as many as three additional one-year periods” and notes that these terminations will “serve the best interests of the district, namely to eliminate the costs associated with the identified positions.”
The teachers that were identified in this process were advised to submit a resignation, though because none did, the board was required to terminate, resulting in a 7-0 vote.
The good cause teacher termination affected one individual, according to Courson. Documents state that the reason for the agenda item was to “exercise the authority provided in law and policy to terminate the employment of a term contract teacher currently serving a multiple year contract, expiring on June, 1, 2027.” The item passed unanimously.
The Hays CISD Board of Trustees will next meet at 5 p.m. Monday, May 11.
