Manor ISD planning future pay raises, offering all students free meals

MANOR, Texas (KXAN) -- Manor ISD is hoping to build off of the one percent pay raise it already gave to teachers and staff at the end of last school year.

Superintendent Dr. Robert Sormani said the district is calling for an additional two percent raise.

However, voters will have the final say on whether that happens. The proposal calls for the raises to by paid for by a voter approval tax rate election. If passed in the November election, the district would receive an additional $4.8 million in taxpayer money.

Sormani talked with KXAN ahead of the upcoming school year about the raises, teacher mental health, student achievement, and more.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Tom Miller: Over the summer Manor ISD voted to give its teachers a one percent pay raise. I know you're hoping to do more. What are the plans?

Dr. Robert Sormani: The trustees and I have discussed calling our tax rate election on August 19. What that'll do is allow us to raise funds that allow us to provide an additional two percent for a three percent total raise to all our staff, which will be retroactive from the beginning of the school year.

Tom: With school funding in mind, Governor Greg Abbott has said that private school vouchers are going to be his top legislative priority next session. Where do you stand on that?

Dr. Sormani: I'm against it. We're talking about giving public money to a private entity that has no accountability. Not to academics, not to the transparency of how that money is spent when the vast majority of students are in Texas public schools, and we're struggling to find ways to pay teachers, and yet, we're already giving money away to a different entity.

Tom: Last year was your first full year with the school district. What did you learn from that experience, and how is that going to inform future decisions?

Dr. Sormani: I learned that this community loves the school system, the businesses, the community members, and the parents and families. They're great partners, and it gives me a lot of hope that on November 5 we're going to be able to pass a tax rate election.

Tom: The district recently announced it's going to give free meals to all students. Why are you doing that? And how do you hope that will help?

Dr. Sormani: I think when you have a majority of students in the district that are already in low income situations, I think it's the right thing to do. One of the most important things is for kids to have a good, solid meal if they're going to have an education. Mind you, this is something that public schools do, not private schools.

Tom: I was recently looking at the school district report cards and Manor ISD got a C. One of the areas that was hurting was student achievement - test scores. How do you hope to bring those up?

Dr. Sormani: We just hope to put our nose to the grind and continue to work on reading and math and really focus on bringing those students up. School systems don't change overnight. The state has changed the rules. They changed the accountability system. They're using new artificial intelligence grading. So when grades come out, it's not something like all the schools in Texas suddenly got worse. The system changed, and that's an important thing for community members to understand. When you go visit the school, it's the same teachers, it's the same staff getting better every single year. We have to work with the system the state gives us.

Tom: Where do things stand with teacher vacancies as we kick off this new school year, and are staffing levels where you want them to be?

Dr. Sormani: Staffing levels are never where I want to be until they're 100% staffed. At the same time though, year over year, our staffing has increased, our vacancies are less. So I am really excited about where we are to start this school year.

Tom: What is your message to families who are returning, or maybe starting with the district?

Dr. Sormani: If you're returning, welcome back. We want to continue to partner with you to make this district as great as it can be. If you're just getting to know us, our mantra this year is we solve problems and serve people. So when you come to visit us, we are going to do our best to model that, and we're gonna do our best to make your transition to our district as seamless as possible and make you a believer in us.