uly 29, 2009
Late today HISD placed the following statement on their Web Site:
"Teacher Salary Schedules for 2009–2010 Revised
Teacher Projected Pay tool deactivated since it is no longer accurate
July 29, 2009
In order to meet the requirements of the State of Texas’ American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Stabilization Plan, and as set forth in House Bill (HB) 3646, HISD is required to use its 2008–2009 teacher salary schedules for the 2009–2010 school year and increase each step by $960. Accordingly, the 2009–2010 HISD teacher salary schedules have been revised to reflect these changes.
All teachers, nurses, counselors, librarians, speech pathologists and evaluation specialists will be paid based on the revised schedules.
Because HB 3646 requires a complete revision of the previously published 2009–2010 teacher salary schedules, the information provided on the Teacher Projected Pay tool on the private portal is now inaccurate. For this reason, the tool has been deactivated.
To access and view the revised teacher salary schedules, visit the Human Resources Web site"
The district has decided to comply with the law. The revised and correct salary schedules are available on the employee portal.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
HISD Ignores The Law In Passing 2009-2010 Salary Scedule
At the June 25, 2009 meeting of the HISD School Board the Trustees adopted a salary schedule that essentially screwed those teachers with 6, 15, or 30 years experience. Teachers in those experience ranges were expecting a step increase for this year but instead the Board chose to insert additional steps, making the teachers work an extra year to earn the salary they expected this year. Yes this is complicated, but the result is that a year has been added to the amount of time it takes a teacher to reach the top step and his or her maximum earning potential. On the Bachelors scale it moves from 30 to 31 years, Masters 29 to 30, Doctorate 27 to 28. Remember, depending on when a teacher was hired, TRS will average either the last three or the last five years of service to determine a retiree’s pension. Lengthening the time it takes to reach maximum could affect an individual’s income for the rest of their life.
Should we surprised the HISD School Board has no regard for teachers, especially veteran teachers? Of course not, but this gets worse. During the last legislative session, the legislature passed and the Governor signed a bill giving teachers a pay raise that amounted to $960 for HISD teachers. There was a clear mandate in that bill that this raise had to be given in addition to any raise or step that a teacher would receive under the 2008-09-salary schedule. The raise and the requirement to include expected step increases was contingent on the state plan for the stimulus money being approved by the Department of Education.
“Somehow HISD looked into their crystal ball and determined that the Department of Education did not intend to pass the plan and because of that they were not bound to meet the mandates of the law,” stated HFT President Gayle Fallon. “They reduced three steps and cheated teachers out of $760 - $3,550 of their state mandated raise.”
On July 20, 2009 the Federation filed a class action grievance against HISD for cheating over 1300 teachers out of their full raise. On July 24, 2009, TEA released the announcement that the state stimulus plan had been approved.
“HISD is out of excuses now that the plan has passed,” said Fallon. “The district expects its employees to follow the law and the employees expect the district to do the same. The fact that individual board members disagree with the law is irrelevant. Once the state plan was approved, the law became clear.
The Federation is demanding that HISD bring its salary schedule into legal compliance and include the full step increase for all employees paid on the teacher schedule.
Once HISD makes the adjustment to the schedule the union will withdraw the grievance and cancel impending legal action.
“Hopefully egos will not get in the way of following the law,” concluded Fallon. “At this point it would be a waste of both legal effort and taxpayer money to fail to adopt an adjusted schedule.
Just before casting his vote Trustee Harvin Moore stated “We have been told today that we are breaking the law with this salary schedule, I’m still going to cast my vote for what I believe is right”. This arrogance is appalling. Moore is up for election in November. It is time to build a better school board.
Should we surprised the HISD School Board has no regard for teachers, especially veteran teachers? Of course not, but this gets worse. During the last legislative session, the legislature passed and the Governor signed a bill giving teachers a pay raise that amounted to $960 for HISD teachers. There was a clear mandate in that bill that this raise had to be given in addition to any raise or step that a teacher would receive under the 2008-09-salary schedule. The raise and the requirement to include expected step increases was contingent on the state plan for the stimulus money being approved by the Department of Education.
“Somehow HISD looked into their crystal ball and determined that the Department of Education did not intend to pass the plan and because of that they were not bound to meet the mandates of the law,” stated HFT President Gayle Fallon. “They reduced three steps and cheated teachers out of $760 - $3,550 of their state mandated raise.”
On July 20, 2009 the Federation filed a class action grievance against HISD for cheating over 1300 teachers out of their full raise. On July 24, 2009, TEA released the announcement that the state stimulus plan had been approved.
“HISD is out of excuses now that the plan has passed,” said Fallon. “The district expects its employees to follow the law and the employees expect the district to do the same. The fact that individual board members disagree with the law is irrelevant. Once the state plan was approved, the law became clear.
The Federation is demanding that HISD bring its salary schedule into legal compliance and include the full step increase for all employees paid on the teacher schedule.
Once HISD makes the adjustment to the schedule the union will withdraw the grievance and cancel impending legal action.
“Hopefully egos will not get in the way of following the law,” concluded Fallon. “At this point it would be a waste of both legal effort and taxpayer money to fail to adopt an adjusted schedule.
Just before casting his vote Trustee Harvin Moore stated “We have been told today that we are breaking the law with this salary schedule, I’m still going to cast my vote for what I believe is right”. This arrogance is appalling. Moore is up for election in November. It is time to build a better school board.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
So long to the state mandated pay raise
Have you checked out the chron.com blog to see how a couple of your board members are screwing up the pay raise we thought was being sent from the state?
*Average teacher salary increase: 3.2 percent. The range: 1.6 percent to 7 percent. The big boost comes at the top end of the scale, according to Garrett. UPDATE: At the board's request, the administration is going to look at not giving anyone a raise greater than 5 percent because, after all, we're in a recession.
*Trustee Natasha Kamrani asks the administration to clarify why there's a big bump in salary on the last step. It was "in no way tied to driving better student outcomes at all," right? That's right, Saavedra said. The reason, he explained, is to remain competitive. Kamrani's not buying it. Does the district really compete for teachers with 30 years of experience? Saavedra backs off some and says that unless the administration is ready to revamp the entire salary schedule, which it's not, then it's not fair to take away money for teachers who were expecting it.
*"Good raises should be driving something," Kamrani said. "And in our business the only thing I can figure they need to be driving is outcomes for kids."
Isn't that a kick in the pants? My assumption would be that 30 years of experience actually benefits students because teachers have been around long enough to know what they are doing and are still effective. Her assumption seems to be that you don't work at all or bring any value to the students. What do you think about that?
Someone should thank Dr. Saavedra for his comments about being honest with people about their pay.
contact your board members about this before the vote today!
send email to all board members via Sharri12@houstonisd.org
*Average teacher salary increase: 3.2 percent. The range: 1.6 percent to 7 percent. The big boost comes at the top end of the scale, according to Garrett. UPDATE: At the board's request, the administration is going to look at not giving anyone a raise greater than 5 percent because, after all, we're in a recession.
*Trustee Natasha Kamrani asks the administration to clarify why there's a big bump in salary on the last step. It was "in no way tied to driving better student outcomes at all," right? That's right, Saavedra said. The reason, he explained, is to remain competitive. Kamrani's not buying it. Does the district really compete for teachers with 30 years of experience? Saavedra backs off some and says that unless the administration is ready to revamp the entire salary schedule, which it's not, then it's not fair to take away money for teachers who were expecting it.
*"Good raises should be driving something," Kamrani said. "And in our business the only thing I can figure they need to be driving is outcomes for kids."
Isn't that a kick in the pants? My assumption would be that 30 years of experience actually benefits students because teachers have been around long enough to know what they are doing and are still effective. Her assumption seems to be that you don't work at all or bring any value to the students. What do you think about that?
Someone should thank Dr. Saavedra for his comments about being honest with people about their pay.
contact your board members about this before the vote today!
send email to all board members via Sharri12@houstonisd.org
Sunday, March 15, 2009
It is time to stand and fight for our union and our beliefs
Sunday's viewpoint in the Houston Chronicle featured a point and counter-point regarding the recent consultation policy that was being considered by the board prior to being pulled off the table by formally supported board president Larry Marshall.
It is very important that we begin to pay close attention to the players out there interested in doing nothing more than placing a knife in our back. Too often we find ourselves justifying our right to advocate on your behalf as many would like nothing better than to paint us and you as anti-student, which is the furthest from the truth it could be.
My response below is intended to bring to light the fact that it isn't just Republicans that work against us, there are Democrats willing to harm us as well. Our members must be more visible in both parties and willing to question positons that impact our work.
____________________________________________________________________
Joe Williams, executive director of the so-called "Democrats" for Education Reform, is nothing more than a modern day carpetbagger quick to embrace and capitalize on the plantation mentality so prevalent in Southern education bureaucracies when it comes to their labor relations with rank and file teachers and school employees. The argument made so often by DFER that unions are the problem in education lacks merit when you consider the South is practically a union contract free zone and that our school systems often display overall inferior performance when compared to systems in other areas.
A recent reports released by MGT of America ranked the Maryland state education system as one of the top performing systems in the country; Maryland is also ninety-seven percent unionized. A quality report completed by the research wing of Education Week listed Maryland as the third highest functioning state education system in the country behind New York and Massachusetts, two other highly unionized states.
DFER, the newly hatched caucus within the Democratic party for the charter movement and other like minds are as interested in creating systems free of oversight making it easier to get the six-figure salaries they weren't able to get in the public system as much as they are concerned about student performance. It is amazing how many of these former teachers and principals call themselves superintendents because they oversee less than a dozen campuses and pay themselves on par with an urban superintendent overseeing tens or hundreds of campuses. The fact of the matter is that the majority of studies consistently show that public schools perform at or above their charter school counterparts. The kicker is that we do so with one arm tied behind our backs. Public schools are mandated to teach every child, not pick and choose the children that best fit their program or those students most ready to learn.
True Democrats should be wary of Republicans in sheep’s clothing as many of them seem to be looking for a new political home after the last eight years on easy street. It seems at least one HISD board member has made a quick turn to the left and landed in a caucus within our party that is ready, willing and able to provide asylum to spouses of former Bush benefactors. Lack of appropriate funding, bureaucracy on steroids, and failure to truly listen to those on the front lines of education are the true impediments to education reform.
Zeph Capo
Legislative Director
Houston Federation of Teachers
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Educators Need A Single Voice In Consultation
Since the 1980’s I have been the chairman of the Houston Federation of Teacher’s Consultation Committee and have represented HFT in consultation with HISD since then. When I began doing consultation, HFT had one seat in the consultation meetings, the Congress of Houston Teachers had two, and the local TSTA affiliate had four. At that early time, HFT was already advocating a consultation process where the employees had the right to chose an exclusive representative. Just a few years earlier TSTA had been the exclusive representative until HFT and CHT were able to win their seats in a proportional election. In 1995, the last time an election was held, HFT won three seats and the CHT and TSTA each won one seat. Other organizations, while on the ballot, failed to win enough votes to earn a seat in consultation. Since the 1995 election HFT has almost doubled in size to nearly 7000 employees, the large majority being teachers, while the other organizations have seen a decline in membership. I’d be very surprised if one of those organizations had even 300 members. The way the current system works, it makes no difference how many seats an organization has, in practice each group is given an equal voice, equal opportunity to prepare an agenda, and an equal opportunity to be “the voice” of teachers. It is time to end the consultation system that gives an equal voice to all employee organizations. A system that allows a large unified voice to be undermined and fragmented by smaller, less diverse, and less representative groups. HISD employees need a single voice speaking on their behalf.
HFT asked the administration to present to the HISD Board of Trustees a proposal that would allow HISD employees to decide by ballot what type of consultation system they wished to have. The ballot would have contained two questions. First: Do you wish to have an exclusive consultation voice or continue with the current proportional system? Second: Which organization would you elect to be that exclusive voice? Each interested organization would appear on the ballot including a “no voice” choice. Obviously if the employees said no to exclusive consultation the results of the second vote would be moot. The Federation fully expected to win both of those votes. Organizing teachers to turn out and vote in elections is one of the things we do best. Despite our confidence in the eventual outcome, we are always seeking to increase employee unity. Last month the HFT Executive Council approved a proposal to the Congress of Houston Teachers, which would have ensured CHT a direct voice in consultation regardless of the outcome of the vote. Under this proposal CHT would have been given an advisory seat on the HFT Executive Council, a permanent place on the HFT Consultation Committee, and a permanent seat on the HFT consultation team in the monthly meetings with HISD administration. For reasons known only to them, the CHT governing board turned this proposal down allowing HISD to continue to play organized teachers against each other. Divide and conquer has been an effective strategy of the strong against the weak since the beginning of time.
It is sad that HISD Board President Larry Marshall has decided to pull this policy proposal from the agenda. He along with the other eight trustees owe their positions to the concerned citizens who have taken the time to go out and vote. All the Federation has asked HISD to do is to allow their employees to vote. Unfortunately Mr. Marshall and the majority of the board are unwilling to believe that their employees can responsibly exercise that most basic of all American privileges.
Andrew Dewey
Executive Vice-President
Houston Federation of Teachers
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Senate Bill 300 Intent on Over-crowding Your Class
On or about February 25, 2009 the Texas Senate Education Committee left SB 300 pending in committee for the time being. That means it is time for Texas teachers to remind our elected officials why there is a 22 to 1 ratio on the books.
How many of you remember when we calculated campus averages? That is exactly what Dan Patrick-R, Houston has proposed in his bill. The bill takes us backwards to a system we have already tried. Remember when the principal, asst. principal, counselor, and any other support person with a teaching certificate assigned to your campus was used to calculate the class-size average? I don't think we need to open up that can of worms again.
I thinks someone forgot to tell the Senator about the extremely generous class-size waiver program. I've never seen a waiver request denied, therefore think it is easy enough already to deal with the problems SB 300 was written to correct. Frankly, we already have enough abuse of the waiver system. We will lose all accountability if 22 to 1 is allowed to be overturned.
Teachers, get busy and contact your legislators. Here is the link to the information on the education committe. You can research the bill and, more importantly, contact the members of the committee
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