Map of governors calling for teacher pay raises; Op-ed decries ‘merit pay’; and will property tax cap increase community college tuition?
EdWeek article: ‘These Governors Are Calling for Teacher Pay Raises’
(But Abbott stands alone on push for ‘merit pay’ only)
Education Week produced a handy map and accompanying table showing what governors across the country called for in educator pay raises in their state-of-the-state speeches. (The article is in the context of nationwide teacher strikes, which includes West Virginia teachers going on strike again today, this time to protest charter schools and private-school vouchers.)
You’ll notice that Texas is green, meaning that, indeed, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for a teacher pay raise. But if you read the table looking at specifics — amidst the 16 other governors specifying dollar amounts or percentage raises — he’s the only one with a dollar amount missing and the only one calling for “performance pay.”
The $52,575 is the state’s average teacher pay. The “None” is actions taken by teachers statewide to promote educator raises. That column entry will change after Texas AFT’s Red for Ed March to the Capitol on March 11!
Texas AFT secretary-treasurer pens op-ed against ‘merit pay’ tied to student test scores
Texas AFT Secretary-Treasurer Ray McMurrey’s piece on why merit pay doesn’t work was featured in the Corpus Christi Caller Times and the Bryan-College Station Eagle recently.
McMurrey writes:
Teachers, more than anyone else, understand the practical uses of testing when used appropriately in the classroom, particularly for assessing students. However, linking teacher salaries to student test scores will exacerbate further the state’s continued misuse of test data for high-stakes purposes. It would prove a heavy blow to authentic education, meaningful curriculum, and professional teaching standards.
The parents of Texas are sick and tired of the overuse and misuse of high-stakes testing. It is incredulous that with the public’s strong disapproval of high stakes testing and the overwhelming research invalidating standardized test results that teacher pay and test scores are even in the same conversation.
Community colleges warn of tuition increases if property tax cap passes
Last week Texas AFT reported in its Legislative Hotline on the commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board testifying at the Capitol on the importance of community colleges remaining affordable for low-income students and being able to respond to workforce needs.
Now a Texas Tribune article reveals that community college officials are warning that the recent property tax proposals at the Legislature — capping revenue growth at 2.5 percent instead of 8 percent unless the entities get voter approval — threaten to leave college systems with no choice but to raise tuition significantly.
The community colleges that educate about half the state’s higher education students are warning of possible tuition hikes if the Texas Legislature enacts its sweeping property tax proposal.
The high-priority legislation would slow the growth of property tax revenue, which makes up an average 40 percent of community colleges’ funding….The share for state appropriations for the schools, meanwhile, has plummeted from 66 percent in the 1980s to near 23 percent today.
“Community colleges are alarmed,” said Brenda Hellyer, chancellor of San Jacinto College. While she understands the need for property tax reform, she said “the concern is you’ve got two revenue sources — your state revenue source is pretty much capped. And now, if you put a very tight cap on your property taxes, what can you do other than increase tuition and fees or cut your services?”
The response from proponents of the tax cap was the same for community college leaders as it was to city and county officials objecting to loss of revenue.
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican and champion of the latest reforms, said community colleges are generally “well thought of,” so could get voters’ approval to bust past the 2.5 percent trigger proposed in this year’s bills.
If college officials “had a good pitch, I think people would support them,” he said.
Community college leaders responded that elections aren’t always feasible, and they expend a lot college and taxpayer resources and money.
The president of Brazosport College, Millicent Valek, has only once taken an issue to voters in her 23 years on the job…..to approve a $70 million bond initiative to expand Brazosport’s campus facilities. They won. But Valek remembers thinking: “I wouldn’t want to have to do this routinely.”
“You’re in a constant campaign mode,” said Valek….”I was thinking if you do that regularly, one, you would have to hire additional staff just to manage the process, and it would be so easy to lose your focus.”
(Note: Texas AFT represents employees in local unions at Austin Community College, Lone Star College, El Paso Community College, College of the Mainland, and several other Houston-area colleges.)
