Brownsville ISD approves employee holiday stipend

The Brownsville Independent School District Board of Trustees approved a holiday employee retention stipend of $750 for all full-time and permanent part-time employees.

Trustees approved the stipend Tuesday evening amid some sentiment to make the amount $1,000. The award will be paid on or after Dec. 20 and applies to those employed from July 1 through Dec. 20, including permanent part-time substitutes who worked at least 36 hours between Aug. 12 and Nov. 22.

Trustee Minerva Pena advocated for the $1,000 figure, but ended up joining the rest of the board on a 6-0 vote, with board member Carlos Elizondo not in attendance.

Superintendent Jesus H. Chavez said he was approached by a BISD employee several weeks ago regarding a stipend, which BISD has paid the past several years. The original proposal was for $500.

Trustee Jessica G. Gonzalez moved for approval but amended the amount to $750 after discussion. The board also reduced the number of hours for substitutes to be eligible to 36 from 72.

Chief Financial Officer Alejandro Cespedes said BISD has some ESSER funds left over from the pandemic and that the district wants to avoid having to send any of them back to the federal government.

Trustee Denise Garza suggested including the stipend in the regular budget to avoid haggling over the amount every year right before Christmas so that employees will know the amount in advance.

During a presentation about the condition of BISD facilities and a possible $400 million bond issue to improve them, both Cespedes and Chavez said the property tax levy to BISD taxpayers could increase from 21 cents per $100,000 valuation to 24 under a likely scenario for such a proposal.

Chavez said parents who are serving on a facilities committee have asked “great questions” after conducting walk throughs of the district’s schools.

About one-third of BISD schools are more than 40 years old, Chavez said, and referred to his experience as superintendent in Round Rock ISD for many years.

In Round Rock, the district finally decided after three upgrade projects on city’s original high school to demolish the building and build a brand new middle school instead of upgrading the old building again, Chavez said.

Rivera Early College High School volleyball coach Mary E. Guerra was recognized during Brownsville ISD’s board meeting Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, for recently achieving her 700th victory as a coach over a multi-year career. (Courtesy: Brownsville ISD/Facebook)

In other business, the board and administration recognized Rivera Early College High School volleyball coach Mary E. Guerra for recently achieving her 700th victory as a coach over a multi-year career.

Ortiz Elementary School was recognized during Brownsville ISD’s board meeting Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, for recent academic achievements. (Courtesy: Brownsville ISD/Facebook)

Ortiz Elementary School was recognized for placing 50th among 96,009 elementary schools in the U.S. on the U.S. News and World Report annual list of Best Elementary Schools in the country.

Ortiz also was recognized for winning the Elementary/Middle School Distinguished Performance Award by the National Association of ESEA State Program Administrators.

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