On the education beat, the Austin Community College (ACC) has approved a 4.5% salary bump for its employees, as well as a minimum wage increase, which will raise the bar from $22 to $23 per hour. In a recent board meeting, ACC aligned with the rise in compensation measures that several school districts in Central Texas are adopting for the 2024-2025 school year. This move impacts around 6,100 full-time and part-time staff members who keep the college running, KVUE reported.
According to Neil Vickers, the Executive Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration, when examining the wage increases at other Texas community colleges, "None of them are doing more than 4 percent... So I think we can safely say that at 4.5 percent we’re giving the largest increase of really any community college." However, despite the hike, faculty and staff have voiced that their pay does not soothingly keep pace with Austin’s rising cost of living. The Full-Time Faculty Senate at ACC called attention to the erosion of their wages over the past seven years, arguing that the approved raise doesn't meet the 8.5 percent they advocated for, as reported by the Austin Monitor.
Faculty Senate President Juan Molina expressed the need for fairer remuneration, stating, "Salaries should not only help employees survive, but thrive. If they thrive, our students succeed." It appears that the interwoven relationship between staff well-being and student success is being closely scrutinized as ACC gears up for an increase in student enrollment due to the introduction of its new Free Tuition Pilot Program for high school graduates in the area.
Adding to the pleas for a pay reconsideration was David DeRouen, president of the Association of Professional-Technical Employees, at ACC, as he highlighted the increased efforts and responsibilities of the staff, saying, "That stuff doesn’t happen by magic, that happens by us busting our rear ends on campus." There's an acknowledgment of the hard work put in by the ACC staff who are now preparing for a wave of students anticipated in the fall because of the tuition pilot program. This enrollment spike, a significant 27 percent, puts pressure on faculty and staff already stretched thin, the Austin Monitor pointed out.
Even with the salary increase, trustees showed interest in rethinking compensation. ACC Trustee Dana Walker expressed a commitment to review ACC's budget more closely in the future, aiming to find a feasible way to support more substantial raises for faculty and staff. Amidst the conversations on pay, ACC also advances in aiding student success; the board approved $12.8 million from reserves for the Affordability Scholarship program, hoping to bolster over 20,000 students who enrolled during the spring semester. The budget including the pay raises, effective September 1, is backed by a mix of funding from property taxes, tuition, fees, and other smaller revenue sources, according to KVUE.
