Alief superintendent Mays on employee pay hike: 'The teachers and staff in Alief ISD are the hardest working group of educators I’ve ever had the honor of working alongside'

Salary increases are a major part of a 2023-2024 compensation plan the Alief Independent School District (AISD) Board of Trustees at a regular meeting earlier this month, per a press release issued this week. The west Houston-area public school district said in the release that the pay raises are 3% of midpoint for eligible staff, with employees in the manual trades, clerical, and instructional categories in certain pay grades subjected to greater increases.

“The teachers and staff in Alief ISD are the hardest working group of educators I’ve ever had the honor of working alongside,” Superintendent Dr. Anthony Mays said, according to the release. “We remain committed to honoring their efforts to meet student needs, while continuing to be strong fiscal stewards for our taxpayers.”

According to a press release issued by AISD on July 20, the increase will give every teacher an extra $2,000 per year, as well as boost the starting salary for teachers to $62,000. The release said the plans also prioritizes the district’s lowest-paid employees by way of a compensation plan that looked at market competitiveness and a more equitable pay structure.

“As we looked at our financial priorities for the budget year, it was important to the Board that we honor the staff’s hard work and commitment to our students, and allocating funds for a raise was imperative to our continued success,” Dr. Darlene Breaux, the district’s school board president, said, per the release. AISD said the salary hike for non-teaching positions is calculated similarly to that of the instructors in that the raise percentage is applied to the midpoint of a scale and workers in the scale get the same dollar amount raise.

Four non-teaching pay grades are subjected to the 8% of midpoint increase, the district said. Per the release, food service pay is calculated the same, but the associated pay grade which consists of workers who clock in 200 days for less will be restructured. One set of employees will get the minimum of an 11% of current midpoint increase while another will receive 3% of midpoint under the adjustment, the release said.