DALLAS — Dallas ISD Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Elizalde got a contract extension Thursday and a $37,000 pay raise.
Elizalde’s amended contract shows her base salary is $375,000, and her district leadership is extended through June 2028. The amended contract was approved during a Thursday board briefing.
“I always feel very fortunate that we have her as a superintendent because she is one of those leaders who takes responsibility for anything that goes wrong and gives away credit to everyone else when things go right,” said board vice president Dan Micciche. “This is the easiest decision I have made since I’ve been on the board. I’ve been on the board for 11 years now.”
At least one trustee, though, expressed concerns with the process and felt it was rushed.
“My statements are not going to be negative toward the superintendent, but negative toward a process,” said trustee Joyce Foreman. “I think this was a rushed process. I think this is something that is (of) high public interest, and the nerve of this board to vote on it on a board briefing day, not allowing the public to have an opportunity to weigh in is, I believe, disrespectful.”
Foreman was away from the dais during the contract vote.
Board president Justin Henry supported the contract extension and process and said he believed waiting to extend Elizalde’s contract would create too much “uncertainty.”
“Really wanted to make it as inclusive of a process as possible but recognizing that I think this should have already been done,” Henry said.
Elizalde, who previously served as a chief of school leadership in Dallas ISD, was hired in 2022 and given a three-year contract with a base salary at that time of $338,000. Her predecessor, Michael Hinojosa, reportedly had a salary near $352,000 annually when he stepped down after two stints with the district totaling more than a decade.
The median salary for a Texas school superintendent in 2023–24 is $150,000, according to an annual Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) and the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) survey.
