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

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

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

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

http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/commit/c530/c530.htm

Things have to get better with a new President, right?

I certainly hope so. I'm exhausted from the number of volunteers hours I clocked in after work and on the weekends. It was the most exciting Presidential election I have ever voted or participated in. I was truly inspired by the number of citizens voting in this past election. Hopefully we keep it up!

Now that the election is over with, what's next? Repeal the NCLB? Fix it? Either way, we will need to be INVOLVED in the process as much as we were in the campaign. How about starting with a face to face meeting with our local congressional representatives? Anyone interested in coming with me? I am sure that our local congressional delegation needs to be reminded of our experiences with performance pay, --since that is an area that our new President is open to..

Looks like our local political position has improved, but there are some issue that even our traditional friends aren't the best votes on...such as school safety. I read parent responses from a local newpaper blog regarding school choice. It seems many magnet parents transfer their kids for the same reason so many put them in private school-- Bullying, Gangs and perceived lack of safety. It is imperative that we get it right on that issue and taking away the teacher's right to remove a chronically disruptive or violent student is a step in the wrong direction. There will be an important forum on the topic in December that all teachers should attend. Details to follow.

Way to go Wretha! National Recognition for Relief at the Gas Pump.

HESP President Wretha Thomas has been receiving interview requests to talk about a plan the AFT local representing custodian, food-service and transportation workers proposed and subsequently got passed through the school board that gives a $250.00 bonus intended to offset gas prices.

Employees in the district making $30,000.00 and below will receive the additional money. The HFT also supported this plan to help defray gas costs for our paraprofessional unit. Teacher assistants, clerks and other members of the HFT unit meeting the guidelines will also be eligible for this assistance. Check out the article below....

Houston Affiliate Secures $250 in Gas Money for School Workers
The AFT local representing school support workers in Houston is leading the country in obtaining relief from spiking gas prices. Houston's school board on June 26 approved a plan to give employees who make less than $30,000 a year a one-time stipend of $250 to help pay for gas. The relief will cost $2.85 million and cover 10,000 of the district's 30,000 employees. The lowest salary for teachers in Houston is $42,000, so they won't be eligible for the bonus.
The plan is the brainchild of Wretha Thomas, president of the Houston Educational Support Personnel, who originally approached the superintendent proposing a $500 supplement that could cover gas costs for much of the fall. A $250 bonus still may be able to cover a few fill-ups in September and part of October, she says, until the district can implement a vanpool program to get employees to work.
"The way I look at it, if gas gets so high, they're not going to be able to drive to work," Thomas says. "It's something we've got to face up front."
With gas apparently headed for $5 or $6 per gallon and the typical bus driver or food service worker earning $8 or $9 an hour, Thomas is concerned that school operations could grind to a halt. Nationwide, gas prices are averaging about $4 a gallon this week, and the cost already is eating up a third of many workers' paychecks.
Thomas can't see Houston idling its 2,000 buses and having children walk to school as a viable alternative. AFT research director Jewell Gould adds that while this is true for schools almost everywhere, it's particularly true in Houston, where there is no zoning and children would have to cross large distances, industrial areas and busy highways to walk to school.
"It's going to be a crisis," Thomas says. "The school districts are going to hit rock bottom if they don't put something in place. But we can all jump in on this because we've got to keep America moving." [Annette Licitra, Associated Press]
July 2, 2008

Board Vote Today...Hope Erika is Right!

If you caught Erika Mellon's article on the budget (http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2008_4589610), then you noticed the positive response we have received from at least four of our trustees. We should all recognize the quality leadership exemplified by board members that prove priorty one is to attract and retain high quality tachers: Carol Mims Galloway, Paula Harris, Larry Marshall, and Greg Meyers (Manuel Rodriguez has been supportive of the raise during board workshops).

If you live in their district, please make sure you watch the vote today and send them a big thank you for being LEADERS on this issue.

It looks like Natasha Kamrani, Diane Johnson, and Harvin Moore are moving to vote against the budget. Does that give you a clear picture of where you stand on the priority list? Keep those contacts coming if you live in those districts. I know that I will be watching from a far to see what vote my board trustee takes.

Last and best chance to reach them would be to send a note to sharris12@houstonisd.org. Ask her to forward to your chosen board member.

If you aren't working today it might be a good idea to witness the discussion in the board auditorium today.