Last week it was announced that Victoria ISD would be restructuring and reallocating librarian positions in line with the recommendations of the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB). Elementary librarians will see increased changes beginning in the 2022-2023 school year.
Over the last several years, our community has established priority areas of increasing staff wages and making critical repairs to our existing facilities within our existing local budget.
In order to retain high-quality staff throughout the district while also working to perform essential repairs to our current facilities, VISD has chosen to adopt this new librarian staffing model for elementary schools in an effort to be more fiscally efficient and to provide an equitable experience for students across the district.
This staffing decision is just one of many modifications that have taken place over the past four years as the District has responded to the need to operate as cost-effectively as possible due to rising operational costs of facilities and the desire to increase staff pay competitiveness to attract and retain high-quality staff. Since 2017, VISD has reduced the total employee count by 215 staff through attrition and restructuring of duties, with the largest percentage of reduction occurring at the district administration level, employing 36.7% less administrative staff.
Like every organization, business and position, they have to evolve to sustain themselves. From administration to teachers, positions have evolved over the last 30 years. This recommendation from TASB, based on what is being adopted in other schools in Texas at the elementary level for campuses with less than 501 students, sees a certified Librarian staff member paired with a paraprofessional, serving two elementary campuses. This model provides access to certified librarians at all campuses, again providing an equitable learning environment for all students.
In December 2020, a TASB Staffing Review was presented to the Victoria ISD Board of Trustees. The number of vacancies at this time allows the District to implement the recommendations of TASB for the 2022-2023 school year without displacing current employees. While jobs may look different with these changes, no current VISD employees will lose their jobs.
Decisions such as this one are extremely difficult to make and are only made after careful consideration. As a team, VISD staff will work together to implement these changes while continuing to provide all students access to quality library services.