For the fifth year in a row, Arlington school district employees will see a 4% salary raise.
The AISD board unanimously approved the raise for the 2024-2025 school year during its meeting last Thursday, amid a month of meetings focused on hashing out next year’s budget.
The move brings AISD’s starting teacher pay to $64,600, up from $62,500. That makes the district the highest paying among its neighbors for teachers in years 1 to 29 of teaching, and the second-highest paying for teachers who’ve taught 30 years or more, per estimates discussed at the meeting.
On average, Arlington teachers have 11 years of experience, according to the Texas Education Agency’s 2022-2023 Academic Performance Report.
The raises come with a price tag of nearly $23.9 million, which will draw from the district’s estimated $258 million in reserve funds. The district’s ideal is to keep its reserves above 16.67% of the general fund operating expenditures.
AISD’s estimated total expenditures for the next year are about $630 million, making this year’s reserve minimum about $105 million. The reserve still rests comfortably over that after the raises are accounted for, sitting at 37% of the expenditures.
While the 4% raise continues a four-year precedent, its approval wasn’t guaranteed heading into the meeting.
The board seesawed between 4% and another compensation option: a 3% raise coupled with a nearly $3 million investment in the district’s health care plan, which about half of AISD staff participate in. That $3 million would have manifested over the next year in a $50 monthly increase in contributions, per enrolled employee.
Trustees were torn between the two compensation packages; one that equally benefits the entire district or one that, while $1.1 million cheaper, offers more benefit to staff enrolled in the health care plan.
“One option helps everyone,” said board president Justin Chapa. “And one option helps everyone a little bit less, and helps some people in one different area more.”
Trustee David Wilbanks backed the cheaper option, saying the district is “maxed out” on raises until it has clarity on future funding. A 4% increase will compound every year in the future, making subsequent raises more costly at a time when school funding is scarce. The investment in health care wouldn’t compound in the same way.
“It’s a very competitive environment here, and we want to attract the best and brightest teachers,” Wilbanks told the Arlington Report. “But we need to balance that with the realities of our budget, because 85% to 90% of our budget is salaries. We can’t always do 4%.”
The district’s preliminary budget estimates came in last month at a nearly $29 million deficit. Because these raises draw from the district's reserve, they won't add to that.
Salaries aside, secretary Brooklyn Richardson argued competitive pay isn’t the sole antidote to one of Texas schools’ main struggles: staff retention. While Richardson supported the 4% raise, she also wanted the board to prioritize improving the district’s culture, which she said has prompted staffing struggles.
Arlington saw a 21.3% turnover rate in the 2022-2023 school year, a 4.5% change from the year before, according to TEA. The rate is on par with the rest of the state, which saw a 21.4% turnover rate.
Three years prior, the district’s turnover rate was 15.5%.
“No matter what you pay people, unless you fix the culture, they’re not going to want to stay,” she said. “We can look at this 3% and 4% all day long — we’re looking at 1% here — but if we don’t look at the bigger picture, which is a wraparound service of ‘what does our culture look like? What are we doing to support our staff?’ this 1% really doesn’t make or break.”
The board’s vote for the raises ultimately drew on trustees’ faith that the district will be able to secure more funding in next year’s Texas legislative session.
The sentiment is shared by optimistic districts across Texas, each hoping that lifesaving state funding is on the horizon and will be realized in budgets next year. The state’s schools are still jaded from last year’s session, when they watched lawmakers’ proposals, which looked to increase education funding by the billions, peter out into taunts and lose momentum.
Similar to Arlington, Fort Worth ISD recently had to dip into its reserves in order to keep a balanced 2024-2025 budget while still giving staff a 2% raise and district-covered health care an additional $44 monthly contribution increase. It said the Legislature’s lack of funding forced its hand.
“Whether it’s 3% or 4%, I need to make sure you all realize: next year is gonna be tough,” said AISD Superintendent Matt Smith. “There is no indication [lawmakers] are going to have anything passed by the time we’re talking budget next spring.”
On June 18, the board will present its finalized budget to the public before approval.
Drew Shaw is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601. At the Arlington Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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