Clark County teachers only getting one pay increase next year
They usually get two (plus COLAs), but after Clark County teachers approved a new contract, this year they're only receiving one.
Freezing pay hikes normally given to teachers with every additional year of work is expected to save the district about $15 million. With teachers and other licensed personnel represented by the union - 18,000 in all - accounting for 67 percent of the district's personnel costs, the tentative deal helps to clear a major hurdle to presenting a balanced budget for approval when the School Board meets May 19.I guess this is what they mean by "shared sacrifice." You, the taxpayer, sacrifice and they, the government union members, share in the pay increases.
Ruben Murillo, president of the Clark County Education Association, said the proposed deal with the district would preserve teacher jobs with no loss of benefits or pay. Under the terms of the tentative agreement, teachers will continue to earn salary increases based on educational attainment, such as completing master's degrees. [Emphasis added]
"Our members supported the concept of shared sacrifice," Murillo said.
Funny how sacrifice for a public employee means getting a pay increase, and sacrifice for a private employee means 14.2 percent unemployment.
What's really sad is that we're going to be paying teachers for something - advanced degrees - that has no correlation to improving student achievement (p. 11).
Perhaps most remarkable is the finding that a master's degree has no systematic relationship to teacher quality as measured by student outcomes. This immediately raises a number of issues for policy, because advanced degrees invariably lead to higher teacher salaries and because advanced degrees are required for full certification in a number of states. Indeed, over half of current teachers in the US have a master's degree or more.
It's policy decisions like this that have led to Nevada nearly tripling inflation-adjusted, per-pupil funding over the last 50 years, but remaining stagnant in student achievement.
It doesn't have to be this way. NPRI has put forward a proposal that would save Nevada $1 billion over the next 10 years and increase educational freedom, school competition and student achievement. Or we could emulate Florida's educational reforms from 1998. The results speak for themselves.
