During the July 28 meeting of the Sealy ISD Board of Trustees, the trustees worked closer to finalizing a budget that would see a tax rate decrease of 0.0277 cents and a midpoint pay increase for teachers of 3%.

The second of three budget workshops was held last Wednesday at the Sealy ISD Administration Building before a public hearing to discuss COVID-19 protocols for the upcoming school year preceded the regular meeting.

CFO Lisa Svoboda presented the budget that still had some final tweaks to make but projected a $1.2387 tax rate, which was a $0.0277 decrease from last year’s tax rates. The Texas Education Association was set to publicize the final tax rates Aug. 5 which will also finalize the district’s tax rate before the final budget workshop Aug. 25.

“A three-cent decrease ($0.0277) is what our tax payers will see in their tax rate, understand that doesn’t necessarily correlate into tax-bill reduction because property values have gone up, compression is intended to balance that out,” Svoboda said.

Once the revenue and expenditures were balanced, a budget surplus was enough to cover three of four possible employee compensation benefit packages that featured two raises based on a midpoint of the hiring schedule and two raises based on the teachers’ actual salaries.

“The next piece is what we want to do with that (surplus) and that leads us directly into our employee compensation discussion,” Svoboda said. “We’ve been talking about for several months giving a raise at either the midpoint or actual.”

After some more discussion during the regular meeting, the board approved a 3% midpoint raise to take effect for the 2021-2022 school year. All districts in the state of Texas have to have a budget approved before Aug. 31 and Sealy ISD’s Board of Trustees will vote on the budget during the Aug. 28 meeting.

COVID-19 protocols set for 2021-2022

Also before the July regular meeting, Director of Special Programs Mary Gajewski presented COVID-19 protocols tied to Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER) during a public hearing. As a requirement of the ESSER award, the protocols will be revisited in six months.

“The overall goal is to create the least-restrictive yet safest environment for our students and staff this year,” Gajewski said. “There are two parts to the plan, maintaining health and safety and the continuity of the services we provide.”

Gajewski said the plan was presented to the district’s safety committee prior to the public hearing and parents received the plan, along with a survey regarding the contents, following the meeting.

“The plan is really a moving target at this point and can change based on federal and state guidance that we receive,” Gajewski said. “As part of ESSER, we will review this plan every six months and have an opportunity for public comment so that will come again at our January board meeting.”

Some of the points Gajewski presented included no face mask requirement and no contact tracing but physical barriers remaining in high-traffic areas.

“We will keep physical barriers in high-traffic areas like front offices to keep that distance between public interactions in those spaces and we will continue to have some physical barriers in sections of each cafeteria so the students feel more comfortable sitting in those areas,” Gajewski said. “Even though we’re not requiring masks, we’re of course going to honor anyone that chooses to do that and allow them to do that.”

One habit from last year Gajewski hoped would continue again is keeping individuals who feel ill at home.

“We’re really concentrating on and asking our parents to keep sick children at home and they did a super job of that last year and we ask for the same efforts this year,” she said.

Educational field trips and educational-related visiting opportunities will also resume but a federal mask mandate on busses also remained in place, Gajewski said.

“At this point, there still is a federal mask mandate in effect for bus travel but we really are in disagreement that public school busses are federal transportation so we are hoping to seek some further clarification and perhaps change that,” she said.

The full plan can be found at Sealyisd.com under the Community tab and “Covid information 21-22.”

Junior high reconstruction, overflow lot nearing completion

During the regular meeting, Project Manager Michael Zapalac said the construction rebuild at the junior high school and administration building following June flood damage was almost done.

He also said the asphalt had been laid at the overflow parking lot outside T.J. Mills Stadium and stripes were set to be put in at the end of the week.

Also during the regular meeting, the board approved:

• Updates to the student code of conduct; and

• Revisions to the hiring schedule

The board to no action on TASB Update 177 affecting local policies.

Following a closed session, the board approved:

• Settling pending litigation

• Awarding a probationary administrative contract to James Levin as Assistant Principal at Sealy High School

• Naming Jamie Hofford to the newly assigned Associate Principal position at Sealy High School