Volume 17, Issue 10
June, 2009
MCALLEN AFT NEWS
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
2009 LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY
PAY RAISE AND MORE
Give Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston, credit for ingenuity. It's hard to imagine anyone but Hochberg, the resident expert in the Texas House on school finance, could figure out how to squeeze more juice out of an increase of less than 3 percent in the budget for public education.
In his HB 3646, the bill that finally passed and went to the governor, he managed to guarantee every district a funding increase and every teacher a pay raise ($800 minimum, average $1,000 statewide).
He reduced the amount of "recapture" of local revenue from high-wealth districts, yet distributed the available funds so that low-wealth districts, and others disadvantaged by current funding rules, would receive a proportionately larger share of new funding.
His Republican counterparts insisted on capping the amount of increased funding any district could receive. But Hochberg secured at the same time a provision that ties guaranteed funding levels to rising average statewide property values. That builds in a sort of "cost of living" escalator that would help districts in the long run keep pace with costs.
Also in the bill is a section allowing school boards to set their proposed tax rates for the coming school year based on an early estimate of taxable value of property in their districts, rather than having to wait for the official, certified appraisal that usually isn't complete until July.
The practical significance: School boards can set their proposed rate and call a tax-rate approval election before the start of their new school year, allowing them to avoid the need for after-the-fact adjustments to their budgets based on the election results.
Concerning that pay raise, one point that we already thought was plenty clear received further clarification today in a "technical correction" to the school-finance bill. Both the House and the Senate added a sentence to the bill that essentially says there is not an additional increase of $800 or more in the second year of the biennium. There is just the one increase, effective this fall and sustained in year two.
Those covered by the increase, just to be precise, are: "each classroom teacher, full-time speech pathologist, full-time librarian, full-time counselor and full-time school nurse."
We estimate that 350,000 individuals will receive the raise. School districts must provide the raise on top of whatever salary step increase the individual would receive under the local school district's salary schedule, as if the current local schedule were in force for the 2009-2010 or 2010-2011 school year.
As HB 3646 puts it, the amount of the state-mandated raise "does not include" (i.e., is in addition to) "any local supplement and any money representing a career ladder supplement the employee would have received in the 2009-2010 or 2010-2011 school year."
School districts will each receive at least $120 per weighted student in average daily attendance (WADA) and must pass through the state raise of at least $800 or the uniform amount affordable with $60 per WADA, whichever is greater.
If the district's increased aid will support a raise greater than $800, then the district must provide it, but may deduct the amount of any increased Social Security contributions or TRS contributions triggered by the pay raise.
Examples of the increased aid particular districts can expect to receive next year include: Aldine ISD, $158 per WADA; Alief ISD, $245; Austin ISD, $120; Brazosport ISD, $120; Corpus Christi ISD, $192; Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, $350; Dallas ISD, $120; El Paso ISD, $120; Fort Bend ISD, $120; Goose Creek ISD, $120; Houston ISD, $120; Killeen ISD, $120; La Joya ISD, $269; McAllen ISD, $235; North East ISD, $120; Northside ISD, $120; San Antonio ISD, $196; Socorro ISD, $120.
Untold Stories of the 2009 Session
--A bill by Sen. Dan Patrick, Republican of Houston, seeking to expand the number of charter schools without first reforming the Texas Education Agency's feeble monitoring of charter operators, was blocked by a deft procedural move when charter boosters tried to slip the bill through the House without full debate.
--A bill with the potential to imperil pesticide-safety regulations that protect schoolchildren and school employees was quietly amended to leave schools unscathed. Texas AFT worked out the necessary legislative language with allies in the House.
--A bill pushed by higher-education officials to get rid of tuition scholarships for classroom paraprofessionals was squelched so thoroughly that we ended up winning a 47-percent increase in funding for this successful program.
--Protection against improper disclosure of confidential background-check data concerning school employees was restored by an amendment to an omnibus bill on the powers and duties of the DPS.