Double-digit raises from coast to coast?

NEA Today, Feb 2001

NEA state affiliates are teaching politicians that quality education and educator pay go hand in hand. In contract talks last summer, teacher members of the Absecon (New Jersey) Education Association refused to settle early on some "nice numbers" until the district first met the needs of educational support personnel. That teacher-ESP solidarity yielded a new agreement that reinstates dependent health coverage for non-tenured teachers and provides double-digit pay increases for everybody over three years, including 19.5 percent for teachers, 19.18 percent for custodians, and 35.24 percent for teacher aides.

A continent away, many members of the California Teachers Association began the new school year with doubledigit raises for just 2000-01 alone-- including 11.9 percent in Huntington Beach, 12.9 percent in San Leandro, and 13.95 percent in Oakland.

In the Alvord Unified School District, the president of the NEA local affiliate, Leigh Hawkinson, says her members' raises-from 5.5 percent for beginning teachers to 12.6 percent for veterans-will help stem the flight of staffers to other districts and dot.com companies.

"Some teachers can't afford to live here, even if they're renting," she laments.

From coast to coast, elected officials -many of whom ran vowing to help improve public education-are coming to realize that lagging salaries are making it hard to attract and keep the highquality educators all kids deserve.

This year, elected officials have a great opportunity to address this inequity, thanks to both record budget surpluses and strong voter support for public schools.

In this new climate, NEA state affiliates are setting some ambitious compensation goals, from double-digit increases in California to a $40,000 minimum teacher salary in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

It'll take hard work in the months ahead to reach objectives like these. But reports from around the nation indicate these promising action options:

Comprehensive statewide campaigns. Through a year-long drive-involving everything from media outreach to a proposed ballot initiative to raise education spending to the national average-the California Teachers Association hammered home the point that this mega-state had slipped to 40th place in per-pupil spending. The crowning campaign moment: a 10,000-teacher rally on the state capitol steps last May.

The upshot: Governor Gray Davis has announced that an additional $1.84 billion would be sent to the local level.

These new monies are now helping districts pay for double-digit teacher raises. Moreover, California's new budget allocates another $55 million to expand the state's minimum teacher salary program and $218 million to fund a teacher tax credit.

Meanwhile, through extensive research, bipartisan political action, and the combined lobbying power of teachers and ESP, the Alabama Education Association won legislation last year that will, starting October 2001, dedicate 41 percent of the annual growth in the state's Education Trust Fund to teacher raises, until Alabama hits the national average. This kind of success has inspired NEA members in South Carolina.

"We've been setting the stage for two years to make a major push toward the national average," reports Mary Greene, a staffer for The South Carolina Education Association. "Our governor has finally come out in favor of the plan, as have many state House and Senate leaders."

Over in Oklahoma, the NEA state affiliate, revved up by a $3,000 teacher raise it won last year after a 30,000-person rally, is now planning a campaign to move teacher salaries to the top of the region. That'll require, says the Oklahoma Education Association, $80 million a year over four years.

And, in Wyoming, the NEA affiliate, the Wyoming Education Association, is collaborating with school officials to address the state's teacher shortage to "significantly" increase salaries. The estimated price tag: $73 million.

Aggressive bargaining. After studying average teacher salaries and polling educators who've left the profession, the New Jersey Education Association produced "common" goals for local affiliate bargainers and distributed some 200,000 copies across the state. Among the goals: teacher raises of 5 percent or higher, with greater percentage increases for ESP, along with quick movement to top salary and a $40,000 teacher minimum.

"Our average teacher salary ranked 15th nationally in 1981, and it ranks first today, at $52,100," notes NJEA staffer Bob Willoughby. "We got there through aggressive, coordinated bargaining, and not being afraid to walk the picket line when necessary."

In nearby Maryland, the NEA state affiliate, working with Governor Parris Glendening, recently won legislation that reinforces collective bargaining.

The new law's basic approach: If a school district and its union negotiate a minimum salary increase of 4 percent a year over two years, the state will kick in another 1 percent a year.

Many districts, says the Maryland State Teachers Association, have already taken advantage of this innovative statute.