The top local stories this morning from KERA News:
Teachers and employees in the Fort Worth school district will get a 2 percent raise this fall. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the school board approved the pay increase Tuesday night as part of a $790 million general budget.
The spending plan passed 6-3, despite some opposition. Board member Tobi Jackson voted against the new budget because it includes a $37 million deficit.
"My reason is if we continue to adopt deficit budgets, we eventually won't have the two months of reserves that we have to have,” Jackson said. “I know you need our help, and you have my promise that I'm going to be a hawk. "
Next year's budget also includes $1,000 boost in starting pay for new teachers, increasing starting pay for a new Fort Worth ISD teacher to around $53,000 a year. About $12 million of the new budget will go for security and monitoring services.
Other stories this morning:
- As summer temperatures increase across North Texas, so do the risks from pests like mosquitos and ticks. Michael Allen leads the Tick-Borne Disease Research Laboratory at the UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth, and spoke with KERA's Justin Martin about the perils of these parasites.
You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM.
