GISD board increases holiday employee bonus

The Graham ISD Board of Trustees approved a one-time bonus of $1,000 for full-time employees and $500 for part-time employees during their meeting this month. The one-time compensation bonus was part of the GISD Recruiting and Retention Plan approved by the board in May.

The district Recruiting and Retention Plan states that the district has a history of providing a one-time compensation to employees, with the last one from 2017-2022 being based on an evaluation of the district’s unbudgeted revenue, investments accounts, current year expenditure reports and fund balance availability. The board in the plan approved an annual bonus in December at a minimum of $200.

“We created the methodology whereby we would promise to give at least $200 (...) to each employee in the month of December. Then the amount of that compensation could be increased based on evaluation of the district’s funds that have been added to the district fund balance. (...) We would consider, maybe, allocating up to 50% of the new funds added,” GISD Superintendent Sonny Cruse said.

The amount of compensation could be increased based on the evaluation of funds added to the fund balance from the previous year, according to the plan. The district has a policy in place requiring the fund balance reserve not to drop below the amount of $4.5 million. Each $100 provided requires approximately $40,000 from the district. The district would make a determination to allocate the new funds to increase the Christmas bonus.

For the full story, see the Wednesday, Nov. 23 edition of The Graham Leader.