I am not so sure whether the School Board members clearly understood just how generous they were being when they agreed to give the teachers a firm 1 percent raise, if Prop. 30 passed last month. Its passage meant the teachers would receive about a $260K (1 percent of $26.1M). Board members didn't know then, nor do they know now, just how much the School District will be receiving under Prop. 30.
Sure We Can't Give You More?
This year the District gave back to its employees the rest of the five furlough days it asked for to help “balance” its three previous budgets. The restoration of the amounts to a 2.7 percent increase or about a $560K payback. Let's not forget that the teachers also will receive their annual Step & Column increases, which amount to around an additional $350K to their salaries. On top of both of these major increases in their salaries, the Board decided it should tack on its own extra 1 percent raise (about $260K). All these gains add up to well over a million dollars, just over a 5 percent increase for most teachers. According to the last District update, that would make the district's certificated payroll slightly over $26.1M
Spending More for Less
The last time the District spent over $26M on certificated salaries was away back in the fiscal year 2007-08, just before the Great Recession hit. According to the California Dept. of Education, CCUSD had 322 teachers. Last year, in 2011, the state shows the District employed only 289 teachers. This year's $26.1M for certificated employees is almost the same amount as back in 2008, except that now it is paying for 33 fewer teachers.
Plenty More Where That Came from
By trimming 33 teachers from its payroll, through four years of attrition, the District, by saving an average of $60,000 a position, should be paying about $2M less in certificated salaries. Yet in this current fiscal year, the District will be spending practically the same amount ($26M-plus) in certificated salaries as in 2007-08 for 33 fewer teachers.
Where is this extra money coming from… our District reserve?
They Never Would Know It
If future historians were to compare the District's certificated employee spending for these two fiscal years, they might never realize we were ever in an economic downturn.
Payment-bound
Since Californians approved Prop. 30, the District is contractually bound to give the teachers a $260,000 raise – no matter how much or little the District receives in state funding.
This has brought the latest smile to the face of Teachers Union President David Mielke.
A Little More Thought Needed
Locally, instead of negotiating and contractually locking the District into a fixed 1 percent raise, it would have been more fiscally prudent had the Board tied or pro-rated the percent of the teachers' raise to the actual amount received from the state under Prop. 30.
A Still-Recovering Economy
There is no denying that our School District funding still is linked to an ailing state economy. Next month, Gov. Brown will update school districts throughout the state on what they should be receiving under Prop. 30. We can only hope that the state Legislature shares the governor's promises.
Mr. Laase may be contacted at GMLaase@aol.com
