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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
