"Dem Lies": Political flyer on employee pay causes a stir in school board race

11/3/2014

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With Election Day around the corner, a campaign flyer in Mercedes is causing a stir among the community and the school board.

The flyer in question states that the last pay raise for the Mercedes School District auxiliary, which include custodians, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers, was ten years ago.

"Really disturbed me because I knew it wasn’t true and that’s the main thing that we have strived to give all our employee-raises," said Mercedes ISD Board Secretary Don Vogel

Vogel is a current board member who is running for re-election. He finds the flyer insulting, and he's not the only one.

"Very disheartening to know that a teacher’s organization would be mailing information like this out to our community in order to sway an election," said MCISD Board President Brian Acosta.

The flyer was mailed out to many Mercedes residents and was paid for by the Texas State Teachers Association Political Action Committee (TSTA-PAC) based out of Austin.

It claims that auxiliary employees, like bus drivers and custodians, last received a pay raise ten years ago.

"It looks like it’s become a political football as far as it was a lie. They’re barking up the wrong tree because we didn't put out that flier and that’s a fact," said candidate Eddie Howell.
                           
Howell is a candidate for the MCISD School Board and is one of the four candidates named on the flyer.

He said he even called TSTA to find out why the word ‘substantial’ or ‘significant’ was left out when referring to the employee pay raises.

“We know that every year, or at least every other year, or as many as possible…the district employees-everybody get a cost of living increase pay raise," said Howell.

Action 4 News requested documents as far back as 2004. The paperwork shows that every year, MISD employees both administrative and auxiliary have been given pay raises. That's also where opinions differ.

"While you look at an administrator that is making let’s say $90,000. If he gets his 2.5 [percent], put the numbers together and you're almost looking at getting close to a $2,500 raise," said Howell.

Howell said compare that to someone who makes $20,000, a 2.5% raise only equals $500. He said the disparity is in the dollar amounts.

"So it seems it’s become a race of the haves against the have not’s," said Howell.

However, Board President Brian Acosta disagrees. Acosta told Action4 News it’s about having pay rates competitive to other districts as well as balancing the annual budget.

"There are pay grades we have to abide by and that’s set out for us by T.A.S.B (Texas Association of School Boards). So when we have those scales set up, it’s set up according to different levels or categories for each position and we need to follow that in order to maintain a balanced budget," explained Acosta.

Howell added that the school board turned down the option of giving auxiliary employees a $1.49 an hour pay increase for the upcoming academic year.

However, Acosta said that this board turned down the option of a 3.5% pay raise in favor of a 5% one for auxiliary employees.

For a bus driver making $12.32 an hour, that’s an extra 60 cents per hour.

 

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