It was a no-go for the hardworking, but financially strained support staff at Northside Independent School District, who have been denied a raise they've fought to receive for over a year. The school district's board voted against the grievance filed by the Northside American Federation of Teachers (AFT), representing a coalition of employees left out of a pay raise initiative launched in 2023. According to the Express-News, the union made a case for approximately 2,000 auxiliary employees who were excluded when wage increases were allocated to certain staff like child nutrition workers and bus drivers.
The ongoing dispute highlighted the plight of many full-timers, still in need of government assistance, despite dutifully clocking their hours. Union president Melina Espiritu-Azocar argued passionately at the grievance hearing, citing a vast pay gap and stressing the importance of a living wage, KENS 5 reported. She insisted that the raises were significant, not for the purpose of affluence but to merely "live their lives."
Pushback from the district came with an argument over financial feasibility. Raising the income across the board for all classified and auxiliary groups, as the AFT requested, would reportedly set back the district budget over $6 million in the current year alone and almost $4 million each subsequent year. The district's attorney, Paige Kyle, cited vacancy rates dropping in specific areas, indicating that the original pay strategy succeeded in filling slots that sorely needed staffing.
Despite these discussions, the governing body held its ground, handing down a 5-2 vote against the grievance. Trustees David Salcido and Karla Duran were the only board members advocating for the denied raise, showing the room split over wage equity issues. The board did, however, pledge to communicate better about pay adjustments, resolving to provide explanations in both English and Spanish moving forward, the Express-News added.
In the aftermath, the Northside AFT stands undeterred. Espiritu-Azocar, disheartened by the board's decision, vows to keep pushing."I mean, this raise to them is everything. It means that they have a little bit extra to support their families. It's not a kind of raise that would allow them to do anything extravagant except live their lives, and they deserve that." Espiritu-Azocar told KENS 5. As the Northside ISD navigates its financial pathways, the support staff's struggle for equitable wages continues, raising the question of just how much a district values the employees keeping its schools in check.
