BSISD trustees will discuss a recent salary survey of district teachers when they hold their monthly meeting at 5:15 p.m. Thursday in the high school board room.

The study, conducted by the Texas Association of School Boards, shows that local teacher salaries lag behind the area average by more than $1,000 a year.

Dr. Michael Stevens, BSISD interim superintendent, said starting pay for Big Spring teachers is $32,500 a year, compared to an average of $34,300 in other area school districts.

“The study compared our salaries to those of other comparably sized school districts in the area,” Stevens said. “It's a lot like what any business would do — find out what we need to pay our people in order to attract or retain them.”

Some of the school districts cited in the study include Andrews, Abilene, Ector County, Kermit, Lamesa, Lubbock and Forsan, Stevens said.

Learning that local salaries lag behind area averages is one thing, but Stevens admits that increasing them will mean some tough choices on the part of school officials.

“The problem is that if you change salaries, that costs money and we're waiting to see what the (Texas) Legislature does in that area,” he said. “Our goal is to get to the area average over the course of two or three years.

“It also has to do with how we allocate our resources,” Stevens added. “We're looking at how we allocate the money we have. The question is, are we overspending in some areas and underspending in others?”

No action will be taken on salaries at Thursday's meeting, he said.

Other actions on the agenda include consideration of:

• Oath of office for newly elected trustees and election of new board officers.

• Construction updates.

• Personnel matters.

Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331 ext. 234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it