Dublin ISD school board approved the district’s annual budget and tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year after holding a public hearing to seek input from the community.
No one spoke at the public hearing and board members Blanca Martineau and Raymond Salinas were absent from the meeting.
This year the district approved a lower tax rate (about five cents lower than last year) however, due to higher appraisal values in the county, citizens will see a slight increase.
On an average home valued at $108,304, residents will see a yearly increase of $27.72 or pay $729.90 a year in school taxes.
Last year’s tax rate was $1.1150 per $100 valuation compared to this year’s rate of $1.0686.
This year’s rate is broken into two parts - $.9492 per $100 valuation for maintenance and operations (M&O) and $.1194 per $100 valuation for debt service (I&S).
Within the budget, there is a 1.22% decrease in M&O, a 0.09% decrease in debt service and a 1.16% decrease in expenditures.
Local per student revenue is increasing from $4,963 to $5,540, while the state per student revenue decreased from $8,148 to $7,161.
A couple of extra payments for district employees were discussed and built into the FY 2022-23 budget.
Superintendent Melissa Summers addressed the board asking what they would think about the extra efficiency payment changing and gave them a couple of options to consider.
The first option would give those teachers a $1,000 payment, administrators would get $1,000 and other employees would receive $750. Last year, teachers and administrators received $750 and other staff members received $500.
The cost of approving the new efficiency payment would total $173,250.
However, Summers approached the board with a new way to calculate the payment based on number of service years, regardless of their position in the school district.
“It takes everyone. This is a team,” Summers said.
It is also a way to reward long-term teachers since their annual STEP pay stops at year 26 of teaching.
“They could literally be sitting at home collecting just as much money as they are while teaching and instead they are giving us valuable knowledge,” School Board Member and former DISD athletic director Bob Cervetto said.
In this proposed system, employees from new hires to five years would get $750, 6-10 years would receive $1,000, 11-15 years would receive $1,500, 16-20 years would receive $2,000 and those who have worked for the district 21 years or more would get $2,500.
The payments are typically distributed in November and this option would cost the district $221,000.
Though the district built in the cost of the second option into the approved budget, the board will give their official nod in the September meeting.
Returning teachers will also receive a retention payment next August for $1,000 and increase from $750 last year at a cost of $76,000.
The board also received safety and security updates including the installation of window film and how the first weeks of school went with a sign in process at each office.
“The SROs are great and they have been very, very visible,” Summers said.
The district is also researching telehealth visits which would allow parents and students to hop on a zoom call with a provider and the school nurse when a child is ill at school.
“I think a bunch of parents would appreciate this,” School Board member Anjelica Salyer said.
Summers explained they are still in the research phase of the project and would try to make sure it did not impact the clinic in town.
“We don’t want to take business away from them,” she said. “We love our clinic.”
The telehealth visits would be covered by Medicaid and insurance, and those who do not have insurance the company would work with.
The school board unanimously approved to retain additional legal counsel from Mounce, Green, Myers, Safi, Paxson & Galatzan since there is a conflict of interest with their current law firm, Underwood Law, regarding the special education co-op. “This would be used if we move forward with getting out of the special education co-op,” Summers said.