Paychecks for teachers in Frisco ISD are a bit bigger Friday as a result of the state’s new school finance system that was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in June. 

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“You want to attract the best staff for our students, and we want to retain that staff,” Frisco ISD Superintendent Dr. Mike Waldrip said. “We’re in a very competitive area for teachers and administrators, and actually every position, right down to bus drivers in our school district, and we try to maintain a very competitive salary and benefits structure for our employees so that we can attract the best and brightest, and we can retain those, because we know we have good teachers, and we have good support staff, and all those things are in place, that it benefits our students a great deal.”

The Frisco ISD Board of Trustees‘ budget for the 2019-2020 school year includes a three percent pay raise for teachers and a $250 supply stipend received Friday.

“Well the teacher raise will impact the teachers, not a ton since it’s not a gigantic raise,” social studies teacher Tim Johannes said. “But it’s enough to offset some of the cost that we have to pay like raising taxes, and home values and insurance costs are going up as well. A lot of teachers already spend money on their classes so I guess the $250 I believe is to help offset some of that cost that we already spend towards our classrooms.”

CTE department teacher Jessica Fisher-Hattey is grateful for the raise, but doesn’t feel like it’s enough.

“I really appreciate the teacher raise, I feel like it’s been a long time coming,” Fisher-Hattey said. “I’m grateful for the legislative change that gave Frisco the ability to give us the raise but with the rising cost of insurance, the rising cost of living and property taxes, my family still can’t afford to live in the city of Frisco, we have to live in Little Elm because the cost of living is too high in Frisco. So while I’m grateful for the raise, after taxes and all of those other things that have added through the years, my growth paycheck only goes up about $200 a month. So while it sounds significant once you put pen to paper it’s not that significant of a raise.”