Employees at Pleasant Grove Independent School District will receive a salary increase for the upcoming year, thanks to new salary schedules trustees adopted during a special meeting Thursday.
Teachers will receive a two-percent pay increase, as recommended by the Texas Association of School Boards, with librarians and nurses receiving the same rate.
Two-percent raises were also given across the board to other district employees, including administrative/professional staff, clerical/technical and auxiliary staff.
The 39 teachers in the district who have a master's degree will also get an additional $500 per year, as the board voted to double last year's stipend rate of $500.
"Based on where we we rank with other districts in our area, we felt it was important to raise it another $500," PGISD business director Kathleen Sanders told the board.
The tax rate and budget for the 2016-17 year were also set during Thursday's meeting. Last year's rate of $1.44 per $100 assessed value includes $1.09 for maintenance and operations, and $.35 debt will remain unchanged for the upcoming year.
Trustees also a $19.2 million budget for 2016-17, which has the year ending $173,552 in the red. Sanders said this is a "worst case scenario" budget, and she expects the deficit to decrease and the bottom line to be balanced.
"I do feel like in the general fund we will not be budgeting a deficit," she said. "I feel like we will be budgeting an increase in our fund balance due to enrollment."
In other business, the board voted to give district employees two local leave days. Sanders said that prior to the 2010-11 school year, staff received three local leave days, but those were eliminated.
"When the state cut us in funding, that's one of the things that we cut also," she said. "We finally had a place in the budget to add two local leave days."
Board President Jeff Harris said these days were important to the district's employees.
"This is one of those things where little things mean a whole lot," he said.
Several amendments were made to the 2015-16 budget, changes which are expected to leave the district $300,000 to $400,000 in the black.
The next meeting will be held at 5 p.m. Aug. 1, when the board will offer a superintendent contract to Dr. Jason Smith, the lone finalist for the district's top spot. Smith was chosen for the position earlier in the month, and the district had to wait the state-required 21 days before offering Smith the contract. The meeting will be held in Central Services, 8500 North Kings Hwy., Texarkana, Texas.