A loyal reader who is employed at EPISD just informed us that her health insurance premium rate went up $101.00 a month.
The teachers are not getting a pay raise to help them afford the increase.
Things are not going well at EPISD.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
That teacher should call Ross Moore and ask him why his union insisted that the district purchase the health insurance that they are now stuck with. State law forbids the any district from changing to a less expensive plan. Thank you teacher unions.
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This is a true statement!
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The trustees and super agreed to give Cabrera his large raise earlier this year, but they are not giving any raise to any other employees as far as I know. I guess it’s good to be the king? It really is poor leadership in my mind. It’s as if he is only looking out for himself. I can’t wait until the opportunity comes to vote against my board member for re-election!! I’m not voting for any penny swap either – because I simply don’t trust them and dont agree with their financial crisis story. They are wasting money left and right. I don’t know why Cabrera thinks so poorly of his employees? Maybe he just doesn’t have any experience as a leader of people (this is his first education leadership gig). Where the bundt cakes supposed to make everyone happily distracted?
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We’ve increased debt and that increases debt service costs. Voting for the the penny swap means that you are reducing the money available to pay debt service in order to increase the money available for a bloated operating budget. The right solution should be serious cost reduction.
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Any entity that compensates an unqualified public sector administrator with what EPISD is paying Cabrera has no intention of making major cost reductions. His perks alone are a huge expense.
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“The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) was an unusual experiment in U.S. history, as it suspended antitrust laws and supported an alliance of industries.
Under the NIRA, companies were required to write industry
wide codes of fair competition that effectively fixed wages and prices, established production quotas, and placed restrictions on the entry of other companies into the alliances. These codes were a form of industry self-regulation and represented an attempt to regulate and plan the entire economy to promote stable growth and prevent another depression.”
The NIRA was declared unconstitutional in May 1935 when the Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in the case Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States. The court ruled that the NIRA assigned lawmaking powers to the NRA in violation of the Constitution’s allocation of such powers to Congress. Many of the labour provisions in the NIRA, however, were reenacted in later legislation.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Industrial-Recovery-Act
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Cabrera got his large raises in 2017. $58K in salary, 20 extra sick days and 15 extra vacation days. That gives him 35 vacation days that can be cashed in at his daily rate of pay in July of every year. Of course, his pay is also tied to the raise the teachers get so he will not get a raise this year unless the Trustees again spring one for him. Gee, I guess this might mean he will be applying for food stamps. 🙂
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Each school district’s financial departments should be able to provide you the ‘cost factors’ for:
1. How much a 1-percent employee raise will cost?
2. How much new revenue a 1-cent-per-hundred property tax will generate?
Public school budgeting is not that hard. With the above two ‘cost factors,’ coupled with some basic old fashion grade school multiplication, you can see what property taxpayers are up against.
Two of the biggest cost generators are employee pay raises and employee health care cost increases.
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Welcome to the real world.
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I thot HealthCare was Free???
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Low teacher pay is a nationwide problem. Health care is a nationwide problem. Don’t try and blame everything on EPISD. There are enough real issues to go after. Yes, teachers should be paid more — not a small raise but a substantial amount. This should be addressed nationally.
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EPISD has total control over the pay of its teachers, so yes, if EPISD teachers are underpaid, EPISD gets full credit for that.
Also, teachers are underpaid, but not nearly as underpaid as most workers making minimum wage. Those people need a raise more than most of us.
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I know this blog isn’t about income equality but I just had to respond to realities response. Do some research and look at the data. The Federal minimum wage was never intended to be a living wage. If you want to make more then the minimum wage then do something to better your knowledge/skills. The majority of people who make minimum wage are people just entering the work force (who need to earn the right for a promotion and not just cry for the government to raise the FMW), those who work in industries with little certification requirement and those working in the service industry who many get supplemental pay in the form of tips. Want to make more money….provide better service and stop complaining. teachers and other educators are PROFESSIONALS with degrees and certifications who must maintain those certifications and participate in growth activities. Expectation is higher therefore expected pay is higher. I’m sorry and no offense but exactly how hard is it to swipe tags at the register at Wal-Mart or to take an order at McDonalds? Doesn’t the computer do most of the work. Does that require EXTENSIVE training? I had that exact type of a job when I was in HS and I decided I wanted more so I worked my butt off to go to college. Guess what? I haven’t made minimum wage in 30 years. Oh and do you have to purchase hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars of your own money to make sure your customers needs are met and bring home hours of work outside of your work day? Just asking!
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Likewise, I am tired of the corporate welfare and corporate subsidy mentality.
Do some research. When companies like Walmart, 7-Eleven, Walgreen’s, MacDonald’s, and others do not pay their employees a living wage and limit hours to avoid giving benefits, those employees, some of whom are working two jobs to try to make ends meet, end up on government programs like food stamps and medicaid. Who pays for those programs? The taxpayer. So, you and I are subsiding the labor and benefits of companies unwilling to pay a living wage. It’s also absurd for you to suggest that support for higher wages is socialism.
I’m sorry and no offense, but your disdain for people working minimum wage jobs is just as offensive as Hillary Clinton’s comment about deplorables.
I’m happy to pay a little more at businesses that treat their employees fairly. I also pay my part-timers more than 7-Eleven pays its assistant managers, not because I have money to burn, but because it’s the fair and right thing to do. If me taking less makes someone else’s life a little better, I’ll make that trade-off.
If you end up in a nursing home being cared for by a minimum wage person, who is willing to smile and be kind to you while wiping your ass, I hope you learn some respect and compassion for those who you simply view as unmotivated and uneducated whiners.
Just saying!
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History:
“No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.”
President Roosevelt criticized businesses paying low wages to employees during his 1933 statement on the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). NIRA allowed the government to regulate business to combat deflation and stimulate a better economic situation.
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