A Look at Just What the HEA Turned Down

As Bongo reviews the school district’s Last, Best and Final Offer, he is still scratching his head and wondering why the teachers rejected it.

In an economic climate where humans are lucky to get any kind of a raise, the examples below suggest that teachers were offered a great deal.

For example, in the first year of the district’s proposal, they offered a new teacher with a bachelor’s degree and no continuing education hours a 5.25% salary increase. Teachers with credits toward higher degrees would have seen a slightly lower increase, but if they changed lanes (which most would), the increases would have been even higher. Here are a few other examples:

BA +12 Credit hours: 5.00% increase, but 7.10% with lane change
BA +24 Credit hours: 4.76% increase, but 6.85% with lane change
BA +36 Credit hours: 4.51% increase, but 6.60% with lane change

Not too shabby, don’t you think?

Teachers with a master’s degree and no continuing education hours also would have gotten the 5.25% increase. That increase would have bumped to 7.36% if they changed lanes on the grid. Again, teachers with masters degrees and hours toward a higher degree would have had an opportunity to receive an even higher raise:

MA +12 Credit hours: 5.00% increase, but 7.10% with lane change
MA +24 Credit hours: 4.76% increase, but 6.85% with lane change
MA +36 Credit hours: 4.51% increase, but 6.60% with lane change
MA +45 Credit hours: 4.26% increase, but 6.35% with lane change

When every District 158 teacher is plugged into the proposal, over 70% of the current teacher population would have received a first year increase of 5% or greater, and that excluded lane changes!

And new masters degree holders that came from the BA+24 lane to the MA lane would have gotten a whopping 9.50% increase!

Now Bongo hears that the teachers are not big fans of tying years 2,3 and 4 to the CPI. Perhaps the teachers don’t understand CPI, but in this economy, tying raises to CPI are a GREAT deal for teachers. Take a look at these year-two examples, which are tied to a CPI which experts are suggesting will be at about 5%:

Assuming a 5% CPI, all cells on salary grid would have gotten a 5.65% increase, or a 7.51% increase if they changed lanes. New masters degree holders would have gotten an 8.53% increase in year two. New masters degree holders that came from the BA+24 lane to the MA lane would have gotten an incredible 10.44% increase in year two.

But so sorry, teachers, that deal, which would have made most pups lick their chops, is now off the table.

It just makes no sense at all that the teachers would think that was not a good contract offer. It makes even less sense that they would think those types of increases are worth going to strike over.

The Daily Herald had an interesting article today on the issue of whether or not D 158 teachers are overpaid or underpaid. It basically says that depending on what numbers you look at, you get different results. You can read that story here.

Both sides are meeting all day today to try to reach an agreement before school starts tomorrow. Let's all keep our paws crossed!