2021 bond issue raises pay, dashes hopes

Emotions run the gamut from anger to sadness to acceptance after Comal school district taxpayers voted down Tuesday bond propositions that would have added new athletic facilities on campus. Of the five propositions on the ballot, three passed - one to give district teachers and auxiliary staff a pay raise; one to build new campuses, buy new buses and purchase land; and another to fund technology upgrad...

Question: What is Proposition A, the Voter Approved Tax Ratification Election? Smithson Valley Principal Michael Wahl: “In a nutshell, we are asking  taxpayers to raise the taxes a little bit in order for compensation to go to our employees.” “It would, it would guarantee a 3% raise for professional staff (that) would happen immediately and for the next two years, and then, any kind of auxili...

A beginning teacher with a bachelor's degree makes $48,000 in Comal ISD. That same teacher could drive down the road to Schertz-Clemens-Universal City school district to earn $50,000. And just a little farther down the road, a salary of $56,675 awaits a new teacher at Northside ISD. The last time Comal teachers received a salary increase was two years ago - before the pandemic and the ...

They take out the trash. They clean the cafeterias. They wipe the windows. And they make $11 an hour, less than they can make at H-E-B. Comal school district custodians are short staffed and underpaid. Ideally this campus would have 14 custodians, but only seven clean the school now. “We have them in two shifts, so we have a morning shift that usually starts around 6 or 6:30 in...