About Proposition A

Proposition A: People & Programs

Proposition A would authorize BCISD to replace the 12 disaster pennies adopted in August 2025 and continue generating the additional $3.6 million in annual revenue to support the district's Maintenance & Operations budget to retain high-quality staff and maintain student programs.

The district is projecting a budget deficit for the 2026-27 school year.

The proposal will generate an estimated additional $3.6 million annually or nearly $18 million over the next five years.

Retain High-Quality Staff

Increase Teacher Pay

Prop A provides funds to end the district staff salary freeze and resume efforts to address teacher and staff compensation.

The district has implemented 20% budget cuts across non-personnel expenditures. 80% of the district’s budget is allocated to teacher and support staff salaries. Without a rate increase, personnel reductions would affect teachers, directors, coaches, counselors, nurses, librarians, special education personnel, administrators, and support staff.

Bay City ISD operates within a competitive educator job market, where compensation is a factor into teacher retention. Currently, starting teacher salaries in Bay City ISD are approximately $1,491.25 lower than the average of other regional districts in the Southeast Texas area. District teachers and staff have been under a 4-year salary freeze, which has contributed to employee turnover.

Student/Teacher Classroom Ratios

Student-to-teacher classroom ratios and class sizes are impacted by teacher availability. Bay City has increased student/teacher class size ratios to 26-to-1.

Prop A provides funds to the district to attract more teachers to support student achievement and discipline in schools and maintain smaller class sizes.

Special Learning Needs

Bay City ISD is experiencing an increase in students with special learning needs, including dyslexia, ADHD, autism, and other emotional and physical disabilities. Prop A provides the district with the resources to hire specialized staff for these positions.

Recruit Bus Drivers, Custodians, and Support Staff

Prop A includes funds for competitive salaries to attract and retain qualified staff to serve campuses.

Bay City ISD transports approximately 1,162 students across 16 bus routes daily. The district currently has driver vacancies for routes.

The district also has a shortage of specialized paraprofessionals to serve special population students.

Maintain Student Programs

Prop A allows BCISD to continue implementing programs and avoid reducing services to the minimum required standards. Budget shortfalls could lead to cutting essential programs in Bay City ISD, including:

Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Student Programming

Bay City ISD offers extracurricular and co-curricular student programming, such as Advanced Academics (AP/Dual Credit/Early College HS), Athletics, Fine Arts, and Career & Technical Education. Without additional funding, these programs and staff will be subject to reduction.

Career and Technology Education (CTE)

Career and Technology Education (CTE) programs, which currently serve 1,012 students, offer career and technical hands-on learning, preparing them for immediate employment after graduation.

A reduction in funding could necessitate up to a 75% cut of these programs.