District’s police officers, special- education department see boost
HUTTO — More than $300,000 in stipends recently approved by the Hutto Independent School District board should sweeten the pot to keep staffers from leaving, trustees are hoping.
The funding is earmarked for Hutto ISD police officers and the special education department, primarily therapists and speech-language pathologists, officials said during the May 29 school board meeting.
The total cost for the special education staff was more than $300,000 and individually up to $7,000 per officer.
In other action, a new board member got sworn in and trustees revealed the name of a new high school.
Regarding the stipends, Hutto ISD’s actions align with other Central Texas schools seeking ways to strengthen the retention of teachers and other staff, officials said.
Interim Police Chief Robert Gauvin and Gaye Rosser, executive director of talent management and personnel support, made presentations concerning their two departments to trustees during the session last week.
“We are here this evening about expanding strategies that attract and retain high-quality talent, and this is where these compensation requests are coming from,” Rosser said.
She joked they would borrow or steal talented teachers from other districts, but they needed to provide ways to keep them at Hutto ISD.
She also pointed out the special education department has never received any stipends.
Gauvin said many of the more senior police officers have left the district in search of higher pay.
Unlike several surrounding school districts, Hutto ISD has its own police force. “I know we’re like the square peg in the round hole. It’s hard sometimes to marry what we do with the educational side,” Gauvin said.
He presented an incentive allotment system for Hutto ISD officers based on a similar system used for teachers and staff.
“The purpose of the policy is to create a clear, fair and measurable incentive program for school-based law enforcement officers,” Gauvin said.
The program promotes reliability, professional growth, physical readiness and more, the chief added.
Trustee Billie Logiudice thanked Gauvin for his presentation but said she was struggling with it.
“Isn’t this already what you should be doing in your job?” Logiudice said.
Superintendent Jeni Neatherlin intervened. She noted incentive allotments are a “work in progress” for the district and stipends highlight a cost-effective way to reward teachers and staff.
“Just like with the teacher incentive allotment, everybody’s getting paid and everybody’s teaching, but when they show a mastery of their skills, that’s a piece of (the financial award) too,” Neatherlin said.
Trustees approved stipends for both the special education department and Hutto ISD law enforcement officers.
In other school business, the district welcomed a new trustee, April Adams, who was sworn in prior to Thursday’s meeting. Adams replaces Shara Turner, who did not run for reelection.
Incumbent Felix Chavez won his seat and, with a reshuffling of the members, he replaced Amy English as board president.
Hutto ISD announced Creekside High School as the name of the district’s second secondary campus, which will open August 2027.
School board meetings are held in the Administration Building Board Room at 200 College St. The next meeting is June 25.
The open meeting begins about 7 p.m. after the board’s closed session at 6 p.m. Sessions can be streamed live or watched later at huttoisdtx. new.swagit. com/videos.
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“The purpose of the policy is to create a clear, fair and measurable incentive program for school-based law enforcement officers.”
— interim Police Chief Robert Gauvin
