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HB teachers' pay raise will not break the bank
by Robb Fulcher
The Hermosa Beach City School District will not face undue hardship in paying its teachers an 11 per cent pay raise, which they won in collective bargaining after tightening their belts for a decade to help wipe out a state budget deficit, district officials said.
The raises will not break the bank as long as routine cost-of-living increases remain about their usual 3 per cent for the 55 teachers, enrollment continues to grow or remains stable and the state government incurs no new deficits, according to a district report.
Substantial pay raises for teachers across California became a hot topic when it became clear that the state government would enjoy a surplus after a decade of budget deficits.
In May, Gov. Gray Davis agreed to send along an additional $1.8 billion to the state's 1,000-plus school districts for "restoring cost-of-living increases that were not granted during the recession of the 1990s."
Many of the state's school districts continue to wrestle with exactly how to spend the money. But in Hermosa, teachers secured a clause in their current contract calling for the full 11 per cent raise if the governor sent along the money, and that's what they got.
The school district's report, prepared for Los Angeles County Office of Education officials in accord with state law, states that the raises are not expected to affect the district significantly.
"Now the budget deficit has been erased, so we are fully funded [by Sacramento]," said Angela Jones, the district's business manager.
"In previous years the state took 7 per cent away from us, across the board," she said. "That was as much as $289,000 in one year."
With the 11 per cent raise, a first-year Hermosa 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. ER