HB teachers get their promised raise

by Robb Fulcher

Hermosa's public school teachers have received a promised 10.7 percent pay raise after tightening their belts for a decade to help wipe out a state budget deficit.

Teachers in El Segundo and the Palos Verdes Peninsula have received similar raises, while negotiations continue in Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach.

Pay raises for teachers across California became a hot topic when it became clear that the state would enjoy a surplus after a number of lean years. In May more than 8,000 teachers marched on Sacramento to ask for more money. Days later Gov. Gray Davis agreed to send along an additional $1.8 billion to the schools.

As the state's 1,000-plus school districts received their shares of the $1.8 billion, many have decided to use the money, or part of it, for purposes other than pay raises.

"Sacramento said, 'Okay districts, here's your money.' ...But it was very vague. They said it could be used for whatever (the districts) wanted," said Tracy Robinson, a second grade teacher at Hermosa View School and president of the Hermosa Beach Educators Association.

A prepared statement from the governor's office stated that the money was set aside for "restoring cost-of-living increases that were not granted during the recession of the 1990s." The "discretionary funding" was sent to the districts "with no strings attached," according to the statement.

Foresight prevails

Robinson said Hermosa's 55 teachers got the full raise thanks to California Teachers Association representative Cindy Ensworth, who advised them to secure a clause in their standard employment contract calling for the full raise if the governor sent along the money.

When the money was sent, Hermosa association officials met with the school district management and pointed out the contract clause.

"We said we were designated 10.7 percent, and we want that," Robinson said.

Bev Rohrer, then the district's interim superintendent, took the matter to the district's lawyers, who agreed that the teachers were owed the money, Robinson said. Rohrer was unavailable for comment.

"We had a good representative from the CTA and a good bargaining unit," Robinson said. "We have been helping to pay off the state deficit for a long time, so I have to say that this time around, it's ours."

With the raise, a first-year teacher with no postgraduate credits earns $37,356 a year. A teacher with at least 17 years service, plus 75 postgraduate credits or 30 credits and a master's degree, earns $70,685.

"Teaching is one of the noblest professions," Ensworth said. "Look at the pay other professionals are receiving, including the 'dot-com' professionals. They are getting two and three times what teachers are making. It's about time we started making up that gap." ER