Teachers in the Amarillo Independent School District will likely be getting a pay raise next year under the budget approved by school district trustees on Monday night.
On Monday, AISD trustees voted unanimously to approve a budget that included a 6 percent pay increase for hourly employees and a 4 percent pay increase for teachers with a possible $500 stipend for teachers with more than six years experience. Substitute teacher pay is also expected to be increased by $5 per day, under the approved budget.
The move comes following approval of House Bill 3, which legislators say allocated additional funding toward pay increases for educators in Texas. While the approval of Amarillo ISD’s budget does include pay increases, union members were hoping for more funding to be put toward pay increases.
In a statement on Facebook, Amarillo Education Association president Aaron Phillips said while the increases are positives, he feels the district is still falling short on fulling supporting its educators.
“Our campaign to #RaiseAISD called for modest professional raises, strong ESP raises, and for the full staffing of our campuses,” Phillips said. “The administrative proposal made progress on some of our demands, and fell disappointingly short on many others.”
Photo by AISD