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Report: Administrators, teachers received raises for school year

by Brian WalkerMAUREEN DOLAN
| March 6, 2010 8:00 PM

School district officials are defending their payrolls in response to a report showing many Idaho teachers and administrators received raises for this school year.

The most up-to-date version of the data prepared by the Idaho State Department of Education shows $20 million in salary hikes went to 42 percent of the state's teachers and 29 percent of administrators.

"I think that's more than anybody expected," said state Superintendent of Instruction Tom Luna, during a telephone interview Thursday from Boise. "The state did fund raises for teachers who received additional education. The funding formula that we have recognizes that."

Luna's agency estimated the increases for teachers who earned education credits would be $1 to $2 million, so the superintendent was surprised by the report. Compiled by the education agency at the request of legislators, the data was prepared using information the districts provided in November.

"I think there's still some research to be done and justification to be done on the part of some districts," said Rep. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene. "We're still looking into it."

Nonini, who chairs the House Education Committee, said some teachers received pay hikes because they have multi-year contracts with their districts, obliging the districts to fund raises.

Districts able to declare financial emergencies under House Bill 252, passed during last year's legislative session, were allowed to reopen teacher contracts and negotiate salary and benefit freezes and decreases. Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls and the Lakeland school districts were among 20 statewide that took advantage of the new legislation last year.

Without declaring a financial emergency, districts are statutorily compelled to honor contractual pay hikes.

Luna said the state needs to find a way to give those districts the flexibility they need to do things differently.

"We definitely don't want to have a state law that forces districts to make what they consider bad decisions," Luna said. "If districts felt obligated because of some state law, the state law has to change."

Nonini said he was more frustrated to see raises went to administrators because they are not under contract like teachers.

"Right or wrong, I think it's a tough time when we're giving state employees mandatory furloughs without pay," Nonini said. "It's hard to see public education employees getting raises."

No Post Falls administrators received pay bumps, according to the report. Fifty percent of the district's 320 teachers received salary boosts totaling $180,000.

"Almost all of the increases were required by law," Post Falls Superintendent Jerry Keane said. "The Legislature funded the education steps under a state formula for districts to pay teachers who took graduate courses and for years of service."

Keane said the report was "much to do about nothing."

"The state of Idaho public school appropriation earmarked specific funds to pay for teacher increases for those who had taken up to nine graduate level courses," he said.

Raises went to half of the Coeur d'Alene district's 614 teachers, a total of $296,112. An additional $13,595 went to16 administrators who received pay hikes.

Kristi Milan, president of the Coeur d'Alene Education Association, said many, like herself, have seen their paychecks shrink because the district is contributing less to their employee benefits package.

The teachers association agreed to a 3 percent decrease in contributions, reflecting a $208,000 savings for the district.

"They (legislators) keep saying things like, 'Teachers need to feel the pain,'" Milan said. "Well, I have worked as a teacher in Idaho for close to 15 years. I have never seen a time where we weren't scrambling for every penny."

"We always look at our budgets and try and do what's best for kids. We're the ones there every day with the kids," Milan said. "It's not the programs, it's not the doo-dads on the wall. That's why most of the money is going into salaries."

Carrie Scozzaro, the lead negotiator for the Lakeland teachers association and a teacher at Timberlake High, said it's "unconscionable" to think that districts spent money wildly on raises.

"That may not have been the intent of the report, but it was certainly disturbing in the way it was brought up," Scozzaro said. "It provides a convenient red herring to divert attention from the real issue, which is funding. To even think that the districts would declare an emergency, then turn around and give raises (other than those under contracts or the law) is really ridiculous."

Tom Taggart, Lakeland's finance manager, said some numbers also need explaining due to a "recording anomaly."

For example, the report shows that 15 Lakeland administrators received increases, but in reality none of them did, Taggart said.

"This year due to changes in how the report computed state minimum teacher salaries, we included the $2,600 (annual benefit allowance) in the pay of all staff," Taggart said. "This meant when comparing last year to this year it appears individuals are being paid more when they aren't."

Taggart said the bottom line is that no Lakeland administrators or support staff received raises. The only teachers that received a pay increase were those who earned them through the completion of educational credits.

"These increases were funded in the state budget approved by the Legislature," he said. "These facts are backed up by contracts and our negotiated agreement. We felt the teachers had spent time and money earning those (credits) and if we could pay them we should."

Taggart said 35 percent of the teachers in that district received raises totaling $95,000. The report, with the benefit allowance included, shows $282,342 was given.

In St. Maries, 17 percent of teachers received $23,250 and in Kootenai, 55 percent received $24,819.

There were nine teachers and two administrators in the Plummer-Worley Joint District that shared in $19,262.

Taggart, Keane and Scozzaro called for better coordination and communication between the state's education department and school districts in the future before such a report is released.

"This is what can happen when raw data is reported without asking questions," Taggart said.