Aubrey ISD got a jump on its compensation plan for special education staff to help the program grow during its April 16 meeting.
Assistant Superintendent Eric Hough presented a piece of the 2025-26 compensation plan to the board for approval during the meeting so the district could get the additional staff hired on for next year sooner rather than later.
“It’s very competitive for these categories of employees so some of them are waiting to hear what our compensation is before they say yes or no,” Hough said. “In order to give them an accurate estimation of what they would make, we’re asking that you approve this compensation plan currently.”
Board Secretary Jody Gonzalez presented Hough with a question after appraising the plan. He noticed certain positions were contracted for fewer days than others, pointing out the behavior specialist with its 187 days in particular.
Hough explained the discrepancy had to do with instructional time versus clerical work on the back end.
“If at the end of the year they’re filling out paperwork and making sure everything is wrapped up and ready for the next year, they have extended time,” Hough said. “With the behavior specialist, a lot of their time is going to be in the class supporting those students, so when the student is gone, there is not something for that teacher to work on.”
Given the district’s projected calendar, the behavior specialist position still clocks in at several days over.
“Remember we only have 172 days in the calendar, maybe 173, so that’s two, almost three full weeks of additional days at 187,” Hough said.
The board unanimously approved the plan.
Earlier in the meeting, Superintendent Dr. Shannon Saylor touched on attendance and enrollment.
“Our attendance went up from the fourth six weeks to the fifth six weeks,” Saylor said. “We went up about .8%. I know the campuses are working very hard on that. So, it’s a 94.4% attendance, and I know when we talked about it in budget, we did 94.5% this year. Our total population isn’t where we projected it to be, but I still have hope we’re going to get there.”
The board marked a lesser new enrollment at the high school, which Saylor tentatively attributed to the comprehensive construction projects happening on that campus.
“It could just be that our homes are more affordable for younger families, but it could be that people say, ‘We’re going to move here, but you’re not going to that high school yet because it doesn’t look very appealing right now,’” Saylor said. “It could change when that’s completed.”
