This year’s survey was conducted Nov. 9 to Dec. 5. Three hundred fifty one employees responded to the survey, which represents about 24% of district employees. According Meeting Professionals International, this gives our survey a 95% accuracy rate.
District wide information was presented to the BISD Board of Trustees in December. Campus results were reported in January.
The comments appear in a separate document.
A concern common to a large number of responses is the issue of workload. BFT and the Superintendent’s Teacher Organizations committee have been working on this issue for nearly a year. We have made some progress recently and that makes me hopeful that we can make even more progress in the coming months.
Another concern is the cost of health insurance. As the cost of health coverage has skyrocketed in the last two decades, the amount that the state contributes has remained constant—not as percent but as a hard number. That means that the entire increase must be borne by the district and the employee. The district has made some effort to increase their contribution and to raise salaries, but the net effect is that some employees are actually taking home less money this year than in years past. This is a serious issue that must be addressed by both the legislature and the school board.
When the district elected to eliminate the step increase, it effectively froze salaries for several years. Even though employees received a raise this year, salaries have not kept up with inflation. BISD is becoming less and less competitive with other area districts.