When interviewing our school district’s business and operations manager, I found that approximately 85% of our total budget is dedicated to personnel costs. It is interesting to be studying School Finance now, especially with the current financial condition of the state and what a mess it is. It seems that every day we learn or hear of new house and senate bills and how our current lawmakers propose to decrease the potential impact to Texas public schools. From a budgetary standpoint, public education is the “largest piece of the pie,” and perhaps that is why we are experiencing such hefty cuts. These are times of unprecedented budget shortfalls, and just as the most efficient method for the state to balance its budget may be to cut funds to public schools, those very districts are left with little choice but to explore methods of furloughs, layoffs, or other methods of reductions in force. Yet school district officials must be aware of how they fare in comparison to surrounding districts with regard to average teacher salaries. In order to attract the most effective and highly qualified teachers, it is important to be mindful of competition and that it may be necessary to offer salary increases as often as possible to help with retention and continuity of the organization as a whole. The negative impact of a salary increase other than an obvious reduction in the overall budget is that setting a precedent for periodic increases may not be feasible every year.
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