HOUSE BILL ANALYSIS
HB 1264
BYRepresentative Ebersole
Teacher's Salary Increase
AS PASSED LEGISLATURE OCTOBER 10, 1987
BACKGROUND:
For the 1987-88 school year, the current appropriations bill authorized school districts to raise their average salary for basic education certificated instructional staff to the greater of:
a) The average salary generated by placing the district's 1987-88 staff on the statewide salary allocations schedule contained in the appropriations bill; or
b) The district's 1986-87 average salary increased by 2.1 percent.
The appropriations bill provides a similar salary option for the 1988-89 school year. However, the salary schedule itself increases by 3.23 percent between these two years, therefore "catching up" with some of the higher-paying districts. Approximately thirty districts are anticipated to be funded "above the schedule" during 1988-89.
The statewide salary allocation schedule is for allocation purposes only, and school districts may design their own local schedules differently. However, school districts may not pay any certificated instructional employee less than the allocation schedule's beginning salary, and no teacher with a Masters Degree may be paid less than the allocation amount for a beginning teacher with a Masters Degree. These minimum salary requirements, enacted during the 1987 legislative session, may cause some lower-paid employees to receive larger increases than the other teachers in their district.
Districts which are funded using the statewide salary allocation schedule will receive funding adjustments for changes in the experience and education of their staff, according to the salary steps provided in that schedule. Districts "above the schedule", however, do not receive such funding adjustments, but are simply limited to a 2.1 percent increase in their average salary. Increases due to changes in staff experience and education, as well as the increases to achieve the mandated minimum salary levels, must be absorbed within the 2.1 percent average increase authorized for these districts.
The statewide salary allocation currently provides more money to districts for teachers with a Bachelors Degree and 135 additional college credits (and no Masters Degree), than for teachers with a Masters Degree.
SUMMARY:
The statute on state salary allocations for certificated instructional staff is amended in the case of school districts funded above the statewide salary allocation schedule, to allow the Superintendent of Public Instruction to adjust for changes in staff experience and education in determining these districts' salary allocations. An additional $9 million is appropriated for the 1987-89 biennium to fund such adjustments for these districts. Also, an additional $1 million is appropriated to help fund the mandated minimum salaries for instructional staff, and an additional $14,974,000 is provided to raise funding for staff with Masters Degrees to the current funding level for BA + 135 in the 1988-89 school year.
For the 1987-88 school year, a school district may increase its average salary for basic education instructional staff to the greater of:
a) The average salary generated by placing the district's 1987-88 staff on the statewide salary allocation schedule;
b) The district's 1986-87 average basic education instructional salary increased by 2.1 percent; or
c) The district's 1986-87 derived base salary for basic education instructional staff, multiplied by the district's 1987-88 staff mix factor computed using LEAP Document 1, and increased by 2.1 percent.
For the 1988-89 school year, a school district may increase its average salary for basic education instructional staff to the greater of:
a) The average salary generated by placing the district's 1988-89 staff on the statewide salary allocation schedule; or
b) The district's 1987-88 derived base salary for basic education instructional staff, multiplied by the district's 1988-89 staff mix factor computed using LEAP Document 1A, and increased by 2.1 percent.
LEAP Documents 1 and 1A establish "staff mix factors" for certificated instructional employees according to experience and education. The bill's changes in budget language therefore provided some funding adjustment for changes in staff experience and education, according to the LEAP Document schedule, in those districts with salary levels above the statewide salary allocation schedule.
LEAP Document 1A differs from LEAP Document 1 in that funding for staff with Masters Degrees is raised to the BA + 135 level. LEAP Document 1A is to be implemented for salary allocation schedule is also revised to reflect this change.
The $1 million appropriated to fund the minimum salary requirements is to be distributed in the 1987-88 and 1988-89 school years to pay the difference between the increase necessary to raise any employee to the mandated salary level, and the across-the-board salary increase funded by the state for the district's instructional staff as a whole. In calculating this difference, no salary which an employee would have been paid in the 1986-87 school year shall be considered to be less than $16,500 if the school district received state funds in that year to raise all certificated employees' salaries to at least $16,500.
Appropriation: $24,974,000 General Fund - State.
Fiscal Note: Not Requested.
House Committee ‑ Testified For: Terry Bergeson and Karen Danis, Washington Education Association; Bruce Mikvicka, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction; Larry Swift, Washington State School Directors Association; Tim Strege, Vocational-Technical Institutes; Gordon Fisher, Kent Education Association
House Committee - Testified Against: None Presented.
House Committee - Testimony For: Many teachers received less than 2.1 percent increases this September. Their take-home pay has also been eroded by increases in deductions for health insurance and other costs. The proposal will help ensure that school districts can pass along at least a 2.1 percent increase to employees.
House Committee - Testimony Against: None Presented.