The Board of Trustees of the Brownwood Independent School District met Monday night, and voted to raise teacher salaries.  The 4% bonus incentive offered the past couple of years will now be incorporated in the salaries, plus a 2% increase, plus two 1% longevity increases.  The total is an increase of approximately eight percent.  In addition, the Starting Teacher salary was increased to $42,400.

Board President Michael Cloy commented:  “I’ve always said that teachers are the bedrock of society, and without them we would be lost, frankly.  One of the charges that we give (Superintendent) Dr. Young every year when we set goals is to try to bring our salaries up.  I think he has done a great job of that every year, but this year I think they have gone above and beyond.  Although, as always, I wish we could pay more… We are happy to give the teachers what we are giving them.  I think Dr. Young always has that in mind, and honestly we are going to keep pushing the envelope to try to do more.”

The Board also handed out many student awards in the areas of academics, athletics, and fine arts.  Cloy commented:  “Our UIL academics, our fine arts, are unmatched.  Nobody in the Big Country matches us in fine arts.  I think we have the best program in the Big Country as evidenced by the awards we saw tonight.”

In other business, Superintendent Young reported on Project Neighborhood, a reorganization of grades K-5 for the next school year.  The District received 584 requests for transfers to a different school than the new plan would assign to a student, and was able to accommodate 548 of those requests.

The Board voted to award to the SFE company the school nutrition contract for the 2022/23 school year, with options for four one-year extensions.

The Board meeting was opened with a musical entertainment presentation by students from Woodland Heights Elementary School.