SMCISD board approves tax rate, stipend for employees

The San Marcos Consolidated ISD Board of Trustees approved the 2022 tax rate.

SMCISD trustees approved a tax rate of $1.133782 during Monday’s regular meeting with $0.8646 designated for maintenance and operations and $0.269182 designated for the payment of principal and interest on bonded indebtedness.

The approved motion stated that the property tax would be increased by the addition of a “tax rate of 1.133782, which is effectively a 7.28 percent increase in the tax rate.”

According to the board’s agenda book, “this tax rate will raise more taxes for maintenance and operations than last year’s tax rate. The tax rate will effectively be raised by 6.24 percent and will raise taxes for maintenance and operations on a $100,000 home by approximately $-37.00.”

The trustees also approved the acceptance of the certified appraisal rolls for SMCISD. The certified value trend for Hays County in 2022 is $8,503,326,600; the value trend in Caldwell County is $257,018,458; and the value trend in 2022 is $355,300,325 for Guadalupe County

The board approved defeasance of certain portions of the district’s currently outstanding obligations, and other matters related thereto.

In other business, the trustees also approved a stipend for every employee who is required to complete the reading academy training.

The stipend provides a one-time payment of $500 for teachers who complete their reading academy training.

SMCISD Chief of Academics Terrence Sanders said there are currently 81 teachers who have completed their reading academy training, 89 who are in the process of completing their training and 88 who will be starting training this year.

The state legislature  has mandated that all kindergarten through third grade teachers and principals must attend a “teacher literacy achievement academy” by the end of the 2022 - 2023 school year, according to the Texas Education Agency.

SMCISD currently pays $400 per teacher to attend the reading academy training. Trustee Dr. Mari Salmi asked if SMCISD teachers complete training during contracted hours or after.

“Some of it is, unfortunately, outside of their normal contractual time,” Sanders said. “One of the things that we, as a district, will prioritize going forward is making sure that this is part of our district wide  professional development days so that we don’t have situations where teachers are having to complete this off contract time.”

Trustee Miguel Arredondo said providing the stipend would be a way to support teachers and the time they’ve spent completing the required reading academies.

“There’s a cohort of teachers who committed to the original reading academy process that was a very laborious process, several hours, a lot of it off of contract time,” Arredondo said. “Again, I just find it hard to wrap my head around the fact that we continue to debate, ‘Should teachers be paid for their work?’ Right? Because that’s what this motion is. Like, we know our teachers have done the work, if they’ve passed it. We know they’re going to do the work if they are participating in the program.”

The board unanimously approved the stipend.

The trustees next meeting takes place on Aug. 29 as an agenda preparation meeting at 6 p.m. at San Marcos High School — 2601 Rattler Road — inside the Criminal Justice Classroom. The next regular meeting is set for Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. at the same location.