BEAUMONT, Texas — On Tuesday night, the Beaumont Independent School District board voted to approve a proposal for employee raises.
Initially, all full-time district employees will get a 2% raise which will take effect for the 2024 school year.
However, if voters in November approve a tax rate increase for the district, employees could see an additional 3% raise by December 2024 bringing their total raise to 5%.
While the raise would come from taxpayers, BISD says the increase in salary would attract more employees amid a national teacher shortage.
The board members unanimously voted to move forward with the voter-approval tax rate election to give the additional increase in pay for all BISD employees.
The board says most of their budget comes from local property taxes and state aid.
Superintendent Dr. Shannon Allen says due to the district's 88.6% attendance rate, they continue to miss out on much needed revenue.
Now the district is hoping taxpayers will help cover the cost to increase salaries and attract top educators.
"The overall tax rate remains the same. So we're sharing and pushing out that information in our community coming up in the next few months," Dr. Allen said.
If taxpayers vote against the tax rate increase in November, the district notes that employees will still have the 2% raise set to take effect in August.
But if the board doesn't receive voter approval, the district would be in a $3 million deficit and will be forced to eliminate jobs and programs for the 2025-2026 school year.
BISD is working to get their proposal on the November ballot and are encouraging everyone to go out to the polls to cast their vote.