After cancellation on March 21 due to the tornadoes in the area, the Taylor ISD school board held their monthly meeting this past Monday, March 28.
During his report, Superintendent Devin Padavil put into context complicated times versus complex times.
“Complicated times are when the problem is still there staring you in the face,” said Padavil. “Complex times are problems that are continually evolving.”
Padavil spoke about competitive compensation and potential realignment of elementary schools.
“We now live the most expensive city – from groceries and gasoline to the cost of living – in Texas. Our employees feel it,” said Padavil. “When things at home struggle, academics also takes a hit.”
Compared to surrounding districts, Taylor’s pay scale for educators ranks amongst the top tier along with Elgin, Pflugerville and Hutto and above Austin ISD.
“If you have been a teacher with 10 years of experience and are working in Taylor ISD, you are being compensated very competitively,” said Padavil.
Padavil spoke about revenue and compensation and ways of how to improve.
“School attendance plays a factor in budgeting and compensation. When school attendance is healthy, state funding is healthy,” said Padavil. “When attendance is down, that also decreases funding, which decreases our budget.”
To increase compensation capacity, key factors included increased student attendance, increased class size to reduce staff across campuses, decrease other budgets for more compensation and an increase in the maintenance and operations (M&O) tax rate.
In an effort to improve the quality of the current schools’ the board discussed equitable facilities, and the quality of education. Main Street Intermediate (MSI) garnered attention as the board discussed potentially converting MSI back to an actual school and converting the elementary schools sizes as the Taylor community continues to grow.
“I think it’s a longneeded change,” said Anita Volek, school board member.
Other improvements discussed included the quality of life for teaches, class sizes and ample space for the arts.
