Incumbents Elected

Incumbents Win School Board Election

Only 29 residents of Hart ISD voted in the School Board election, out of 731 registered voters, announces Teresa Montemayor, Hart ISD Business Manager. This means 3.96% of registered voters bothered to vote.

Montemayor  told the school board at its May 10 meeting that Steven Reyna received 24 votes; Angelica Ramirez, 22; and Vickie Chavez, 18. Challenger.  Julissa Chaves garnered eight votes. The Board canvassed the votes, and the three were sworn in.

The Board then realigned officers:  Erasmo Mata is president; Angelica Ramirez, vice-president; and Steven Reyna is secretary.

Board Approves Raises

Interim Superintendent Les Miller told the Board that he and Montemayor had been working on salary increases for all employees, developing schedules for all categories of employees.  (Administrators have yet to receive raises.) His main focus is to retain and attract teachers. He said that no raises have been approved since 2013-14.

All teachers get a $3,000 raise. A beginning teacher at Hart ISD goes from $30,000 to $33,000. Montemayor said that the state requires a district pay $28,080 to beginning teachers. The 25 teachers at Hart ISD are on ten-month contracts (187 work days). The $3,000 increase is built in each year. The school board can change this when it deems necessary.

All teacher assistants, custodians  and cafeteria employees get a raise, as well as the three Central Office employees, excluding the business manager and the superintendent. There are ten teacher assistants and they are getting a $600 a year increase;  the two campus secretaries ($500 per year increase); three custodians (an average of $500 increase per year);  and four cafeteria employees get a two percent raise, said Montemayor.  Eliazar Castillo, maintenance and mechanic, wasn’t named as getting a raise yet. He has no help, and told Miller he prefers working alone.

Total cost this year for the raises is about $72,000, according to Montemayor.