The Herald-Zeitung

New Braunfels and Comal independent school districts will bear the financial brunt of a recent ruling from Attorney General Greg Abbott.

NBISD and CISD — along with every other district in Texas — must match the increase in teacher retirement pensions which resulted from a state-mandated salary hike in 2006, according to a July 3 ruling from the AG’s office.

Abbott’s decision hits hard in NBISD, which was among the districts seeking damages when the legislature called in 2006 for a $2,500 pay increase for teachers but didn’t cover the 6.8 percent of the raise that goes toward pension funds.

In times past, Texas has covered most base-pay retirement benefits and left the remainder to each district. Both NBISD and CISD pay more than the minimum.

“What’s different here ... is with this raise, the additional funds for the teacher-matching portion were not made available from the state, so it was picked up by local revenue,” said NBISD assistant superintendent Randy Moczygemba, who added that the money is also siphoned away from other school district needs.

“For years and years, (lawmakers) require us to do new things that cost money, but they don’t provide additional funding to cover it,” he said.

The AG’s office said the 2006 pay raises weren’t part of the minimum salary requirements statewide, and therefore were doled out at the discretion of each school district.

The Texas Education Agency “implemented the law exactly,” TEA spokesperson DeEtta Culbertson said Wednesday, and the financial punch “is going to depend on the district, how they implemented it or not, and whether they elected to pay it.”

But the raise was a mandate regardless, and Texas continues to limit its contribution to districts that show an increase in local tax revenue, meaning if NBISD or CISD pulls in extra money from property taxes, state funding drops proportionately that year.

Neither Moczygemba nor Debra Smith, CISD’s assistant superintendent for business services, could provide a monetary estimate Wednesday — both had just gotten word of the ruling — but “it affects all of our funds,” Smith said. “It affects the general fund and any special revenue funds, federally or locally.”