Apr. 30—Pay hikes, $8 million worth, are coming in varying levels for employees of Clovis Municipal Schools.
The news came at Tuesday's monthly meeting of the CMS school board.
Deputy superintendent of finance Shawna Russell outlined pay increases for the various departments in the system like teaching, administration, student nutrition and such.
One item that was frequently mentioned by Russell is the system's minimum wage will go to $15 an hour.
Funds for the state mandated pay increases come from action by the state legislature and go into effect with the 2022-2023 school year.
Talk of the pay increases brought up points, one was that it is hoped the higher pay will attract more teachers to the district. Another point was that news of the higher pay was causing some teachers who had been talking of retiring to reconsider.
Board members heard a presentation from A. J. Bowers of the accounting firm of Carr, Riggs and Ingram regarding an audit of the financial records of the school system from 2020-2021.
Bowers said the school system received the highest level of approval in the audit.
Michael Sharp of Research and Polling LLC gave a presentation of the redistricting of the area's five school board member districts as required by law because of population location shifts based on data from the 2020 census.
Sharp presented five plans to the board. The plan that was favored was the one labeled "plan E" which would basically leave the districts as they are now.
The CMS instructional calendar for the 2022-2023 school year was on the agendar.
Superintendent of Clovis Schools Renee Russ outlined how teachers and parents were surveyed regarding the calendar change.
A majority of those surveyed were not in favor of adding 25 days to the school year but a majority considered the addition of 10 days to be acceptable.
In the end the board approved a calendar that, according to Russ, means the Clovis Municipal Schools calendar for 2022-2023 will align with the state's statutory minimums.
Another new point for the calendar will be "extended stay Wednesdays" which will provide 45 to 50 minutes of targeted instruction to provide enrichment, engagement, intervention, STEM and STEAM learning and project based learning options, according to Russ.
Also in attendance at the meeting were Clovis city officials: Mayor Mike Morris, mayor pro-tem Chris Bryant and city manager Justin Howalt.
Howalt talked up the progress of the city's water re-use effort, Bryant addressed the importance of water conservation saying, "Water conservation has to be a way of life."