State-mandated teacher raises just a ploy

A legislative proposal to give teachers a $1,000 pay raise is nothing more than an attempt to curry their favor on widely unpopular public education measures.

Even more insulting than this thinly veiled bribe is the fact that lawmakers want you and me, the taxpayers back home, to pay for an unfunded mandate while they take the credit for the generosity.

The pay-hike proposal is on a long laundry list of items legislators will consider when they reconvene in special session in Austin next month. They should drop this item, develop some political fortitude, and get working on the more serious issues facing public education.

I have yet to find a single person sold on the idea that an unfunded mandate from the state to increase teacher salaries is a good idea. While we can all agree that teachers are generally overworked and underpaid, a state-mandated raise is not the solution.

“It’s a bit of an insult that they do not think teachers are smart enough to figure out what is going on,” said Shelley Potter, president of the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers.

A $1,000-a-year pay hike amounts to less than $20 a week. Some school districts are considering heftier pay raises for their employees, but many administrators are planning to wait until after the special session concludes before awarding them.

Potter is worried that districts without funds for teacher pay increases will cut staff to accommodate a state-ordered raise. The problem then becomes, where will districts come up with the money?

Faced with few options, the choices become teacher layoffs, cutting vital staff or increasing class size. None is an ideal solution.

“A $1,000 pay raise looks good on the surface — who would not love to see a pay increase? — but this is just irresponsible,” Potter said.

Pay is not the only reason teachers leave a school district or the profession. Salary is an important factor in any job, but working conditions play an important role, and conditions for teachers just keep getting worse in Texas.

Fixing the public school finance system would go a long way toward helping rectify the problem. The Texas Supreme Court last summer ruled the state’s school finance system is constitutional but also noted that it’s woefully inadequate.

School districts are being forced to do more with less financial support from the state each biennium. We need to fix the existing problems before spending money to launch a school vouchers program and force the more than 1,000 school districts in the state to spend time and money to address the nonexistent problem of who uses which school bathroom.

In the San Antonio Independent School District, a proposed raise approved by the school board this week may be delayed.

Superintendent Pedro Martinez said there is money in the 2017-18 budget for up to a 2 percent pay hike for employees, but the increase is unlikely to be included in the first paychecks of the new year. They will wait for the outcome of the special session.

North East Independent School District Superintendent Brian Gottardy said his district is still working on its budget. A $1,000 state-mandated teacher raise would cost his district $4.7 million, he said, and it might have to dip into its fund balance.

Over in the South San Antonio Independent School District, Superintendent Abe Saavedra said the district will include a pay hike in the new budget that will probably average to more than $1,000 per employee.

He said he will be talking to the district’s legal counsel to ensure that when the pay raises are approved by his board, it is with the understanding that they are intended to cover any increases mandated by the state.

“It’s all political propaganda. Most districts are already giving raises. They just want to take credit for it,” the longtime superintendent said of the legislative proposal.

I agree. gpadilla@express-news.net