Dallas ISD gives teachers a slight raise, cuts 600 jobs

DALLAS – Dallas ISD approved its budget for the next school year. That budget includes a slight pay raise for teachers, but there will also be some job cuts.

“Budget shortfall” is a phrase a lot of school districts around the state have uttered. The Dallas Independent School District is no different.

During Thursday night’s school board meeting, district trustees took steps to deal with what it said is insufficient funding from the state.

Trustees approved a new $1.9 billion budget.

It gives teachers a modest raise. The new average annual teacher salary will be $70,000.

The spending plan also includes funding for adding 70 more positions to the district’s police force.

But non-teaching positions are taking a hit.

According to the Dallas Morning News, the budget is eliminating more than 600 jobs at the campus level.

55 assistant principal jobs and 170 full-time jobs in district administration are being cut.

In the state capitol, Gov. Greg Abbott’s battle with lawmakers over school vouchers has held up increased funding for public schools.

One Dallas ISD trustee said that while the situation is difficult, Dallas is fortunate that it has not had to close any schools like many other districts throughout Texas.

“A ton of them are closing schools and having to close them on a short timeline. And we have the luxury of not doing that because of thoughtful planning like this,” said school board member Ben Mackey. “But I just want to share my take on this because this is never easy, but it is necessary. And what we need to do is make the decisions that are gonna be the most beneficial for kids.”

The district said some of the job cuts will come through retirements and normal attrition. There will also be an effort to re-assign impacted individuals to other positions around Dallas ISD.