Teacher Salary Increase: A Nationwide Effort

The issue of increasing teacher salaries is not specific to the Lone Star State. This is a nationwide problem that is being addressed in multiple ways by multiple states. North Carolina, Florida, and Pennsylvania have all recently created legislation that affect teacher salaries.

 

In North Carolina, Senate leader Phil Berger revived a proposal Tuesday to end job-protecting tenure rules for veteran school teachers and to move forward a pay proposal that seeks to reward the best-performing classroom instructors. Berger hopes this proposal will give teachers an extra incentive to perform well. Read more about this here.

Gov. Rick Scott pushed to give teachers $480 million in new money for pay raises. According to the article, Senate budget writers are likely to go along with Scott's new legislation.

 

Pennsylvania is cutting teacher salaries in Philadelphia. A recent meeting confirmed that 23 public schools are to be closed, which in effect will reduce teacher pay by 13 percent. Unfortunately, not all states are headed in the direction of increasing teacher salaries. Read more about the cuts here.

 

No updates on HB 176.

 

Photo Source: http://www.greatschoolsforamerica.org/gsa-wp/we-are-upset-photo-diary

 

Preston Chilton

Post 3

Exploring New Solutions for Texas Education

In a state facing a $15 billion budget shortfall, almost every aspect of government will be experiencing cuts this session. Money allocated for education, which accounts for 56.3% percent of the overall budget, will have to be reduced as a result of this budget decrease. The easiest way for school districts to accommodate these budget changes under current Texas law is to simply layoff teachers because many other options, such as reducing teacher salaries, are prohibited. 

Early predictions estimated that about 80,000 to 100,000 teachers across the state would lose their jobs as a result of the budget shortfall. Many legislators have asserted that the best option is to adjust current law to accommodate changes in the budget, allowing districts more control over how they spend their budgets. By giving school districts the ability to increase class sizes, reduce teacher salaries and offer more unpaid furlough days, many teachers may be able to keep their jobs.

Everyone can agree that education is of the utmost importance. Our children are our future and the quality of their education contributes significantly to their success. Furthermore, every parent wants to see that our education system improves over time. We all want future generations to have better than what we had.

I admire the work of the Texas Senate Education Committee’s attempts to find a compromise between administrators and teachers, but is changing Texas law really the best way to address the budget shortfall? Texas teachers have fought for years to get the minimum teacher salary where it stands today at about $27,000 for first-year teachers. One thing the republicans in the legislature hate more than suggesting using the rainy day fund is suggesting higher taxes, but that may be another solution to the $15 billion shortfall, which is rarely discussed.

Some of the ideas proposed by the legislature I believe would really help alleviate the pressure put on school districts due to dramatically decreased budgets. Allowing more furlough days for teachers is a great place to start, but raising taxes or dipping into the rainy day fund would significantly reduce the amount of teachers being laid off as a result of decreased budgets. The two most important education bills proposed in the Texas legislature, SB 12 and HB 400, both of which would allow more furlough days for teachers, but we will have to continue waiting for a budget to pass both chambers to know if the rainy day fund will be used.

-Kaitlyn Van Gorkom

Big Cuts for Public Education Across the Board

When it comes to public education in Texas, the two bills to watch out for in the legislature are HB 400 and SB 12. 

The bills would give school districts more control over their budgets, allowing them to increase class sizes, cut employee pay and offer more unpaid furlough days for teachers. Legislators feel that these two bills provide the best compromise between administrators and teachers according to an article from Bloomberg Businessweek.

Others aren’t convinced these methods are the best way to address the situation. Lonnie Hollingsworth, an attorney with the Texas Classroom Teachers Association told the Associated Press that eliminating the state mandated minimum salary for teachers “is the equivalent of swatting a fly with a sledgehammer.”

But Texas isn’t the only state faced with huge budget cuts forcing school districts to layoff teachers and increase class sizes. Other states such as California, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina are also struggling to deal with large budget cuts. 

According to an article from the Florida Courier, legislators in Florida are looking at a $1 billion cut to K-12 funding in the state, one of the largest cuts in its history. Virtual classes, teacher furloughs, layoffs, fewer buses and four day school weeks are just a few of the options Florida lawmakers are considering in order to manage the budget shortfall. 

Students from Tallahassee-area schools wait outside Gov. Rick Scott's office to protests cuts in education.
Photo courtesy of Michael Peltier/News Service of Florida.

In North Carolina, the budget proposed by the GOP calls for double-digit percentage spending cuts for public education according to an article from Bloomberg Businessweek.

The fact is that everyone is experiencing budget cuts this session and education will be taking a big hit. Now the only question that remains is whether the legislatures will use the fly swatter or the sledgehammer to do it.

-Kaitlyn Van Gorkom