DSISD approves employee incentives

The Dripping Springs ISD Board of Trustees will reward returning employees with added pay and additional payments this fall, accommodating an increasingly high cost of living in the area.

At its regular meeting on Monday, May 23, the DSISD Board of Trustees voted to approve pay increases and one-time incentive payments for all returning, full- and part-time employees who served at least 90 days with the district during the 2021–2022 school year. In addition to payment increases, returning employees, as well as long-term substitutes, will be paid a $1,000 lump-sum payment in September.

The board also approved the district’s compensation plan for the upcoming year, raising the minimum wage for hourly employees from $12 to $15 per hour.

DSISD’s general pay increase will raise salaries by 7% for teaching staff, 7% for auxiliary and clerical hourly staff and 4% for administrative and professional staff. The approved raise will equate to $3,950 per teacher, plus the $1,000 incentive payment, for a total of $4,950 per teacher. The raises will go into effect in employees’ first 2022–2023 paycheck.

“Dripping Springs ISD is a destination district for families and we want to work to ensure that it is a destination district as an employer, too,” said DSISD Superintendent Dr. Holly Morris-Kuentz. “We want talented and innovative life-changers to come and work here and build their careers with us.”

The district believes these increases and incentives will relieve some of the hardship its employees face living and working in Dripping Springs, according to a statement.

“The Board of Trustees is committed to recognizing the exceptional work that our educators and district employees do every day to serve the students and families of DSISD,” added Dr. Mary Jane Hetrick, Board of Trustees president. “We appreciate the administration’s work to come up with a compensation plan that they believe will help attract and retain talent while being judicious with taxpayer dollars. We were pleased to unanimously support the pay increases and incentive payments recommendations.”