HOUSTON – Houston Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles addressed questions Tuesday that some New Education System teachers have concerning pay.
The NES teachers will be working in the 28 schools deemed priority campuses. Many teachers were concerned because they didn’t know their salary until a day after their resignation deadline. By state law, teachers must announce their resignations 45 days before the first day of school or face certification penalties.
Superintendent Miles started the meeting by talking about salary confusion. He said he was made aware of the issue during last Thursday’s meeting when an NES teacher explained she had a contract but no salary offer.
“That evening, I went back to the team and said, ‘Hey, wait a minute, this can’t be right, that people get pieces of paper with a contract and a promise, but they don’t have the amount.’ Turns out she was right. There were many people in the NES system with an agreement, but it didn’t have an exact amount,” said Miles.
He said he instructed his team to fix the problem and to get the salary amounts out within 24 hours. According to the Houston Education Association, some of its members were upset to learn their salary offers were much lower than anticipated.
Miles said teachers were always told the average NES salary would be $85,000. The salaries are based on the subject the teacher teaches and their experience. For example, math and science teachers make more than P.E. and elective teachers.
“There were teachers crying when they got their salary because they didn’t think that it was possible to earn that much, and that’s the base salary, doesn’t even include the $10,000 stipend, and even those that didn’t make as much as they thought they would, are making a lot more than the average person in the district,” said Miles.
So far, Miles said 845 teachers have been hired to teach in NES schools. He says 72% of those jobs were filled from within the district. There are currently 65 NES teacher vacancies.
HISD said it is still working to determine how many teachers left the district this year.
MORE STORIES