ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220040
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
VIRGINIA TEACHERS now appear to be in line for a pay raise. But the money for secondary and high school educators could come from cutting a proposed salary hike for college faculty.
A blitzkrieg lobbying effort appeared to be paying off for Virginia's public schoolteachers Wednesday as House Republicans and Democrats signaled that pay raises have become a priority.
At competing news conferences, leaders in both parties said they're committed to finding money for a pay increase next year.
Republicans spoke first and were the most specific. They called for cuts in proposed 6 percent to 8 percent salary increases for college faculty over the next two years as a way of giving teacher raises in a tight budgetary time.
Democrats, miffed at Republicans for positioning themselves as the champions of education, countered that pitting one group of teachers against another is a bad idea.
They declined to say how they'd come up with the millions of dollars to fund a pay raise, but said they hope to have a solution before the $34.6 billion two-year budget is debated on the House and Senate floors today.
"We are making an honest, good-faith effort to get this done," said House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton.
Some senators seemed less optimistic, however.
Noting that lawmakers in both chambers have made higher education funding a priority this year, state Sen. Stanley Walker, D-Norfolk, said "it's very difficult" to see how a teacher raise could be financed.
"People are looking at it, but it's going to be tough, I think," said Walker, co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
Walker also dismissed the idea of raiding money that has been set aside in budget proposals for higher education. "Commitments have been made," he said. Readjusting pay raises proposed for college faculty "would be very hard to do."
About half of the 47-member House Republican caucus showed up for a news conference to suggest that equalizing pay raises was the fair thing to do.
"At the very least, teachers should get the same as college faculty," said Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, a high school teacher. Cox noted that teachers were the only category of state employees who would not get a pay raise next year under budget plans presented by Gov. George Allen and revised by the Democrat-controlled House and Senate money committees.
Many teachers say they feel betrayed by Democratic legislators, who left unchanged Allen's plan to delay teacher raises until the final six months of the two-year budget. Allen has proposed paying the state's portion of a 3 percent salary increase in December 1997.
By midweek, legislators were feeling singed, as teachers and school representatives from across the state descended on them.
The Virginia Education Association, which represents the state's teachers, spent the last two days rallying the troops. President Rob Jones left a message on his answering machine urging teachers to call their legislators to complain.
The pay issue has taken on a more strident tone because of a steady drop in Virginia's nationwide standing on average teacher pay, which since 1990 has fallen from 18th to 26th. This year's average salary of $34,687 in Virginia is an estimated $3,300 below the national average, according to the National Education Association.
Teachers in poorer districts have felt the pinch disproportionately, educators say. Last year, for instance, the average teacher pay in the bottom five school districts lagged top-paying districts by nearly $14,000, ranging from a high of $44,939 in Falls Church to a low of $23,840 in Highland County, according to the VEA.
On Wednesday, Republicans proposed giving all teachers, from kindergarten to college, a 2 percent pay increase next year and 3 percent the following year.
Half of the $61 million needed to finance that change would come from the reduced college pay raises and half from eliminating 420 proposed new college faculty positions. The Republicans noted that the number of faculty jobs still would rise by about 333 over the biennium.
Under the change, 89 new faculty positions allotted for Old Dominion University would be reduced to 39. Four new positions allotted for Virginia Tech would be reduced to none.
The proposed cuts would come in new positions tied to growth in college enrollment and would not affect faculty increases stemming from new programs at the schools.
"Stay tuned," replied Cranwell when asked what the Democratic alternative would be.
Legislative plans to invest about $200 million in operating expenses for state colleges followed a yearlong lobbying effort by a consortium of business and education leaders. They argue that funding for higher education in the state is dipping perilously low.
That money does not include millions more in bonding authority for college construction.
Walker said lawmakers did not include money for public schoolteacher raises in part because the budgets offered by the governor and the assembly would increase basic aid to schools by more than $600 million.
"This is the biggest increase in funding that public education has had in God knows how long," Walker said. "Every school district is receiving more money, and localities can use it to give these raises, I feel certain."
Republicans took advantage of the news conference to say they are friends of public education, even though the label is more often applied to Democrats.
Their concern is "neither new-founded, nor one-upsmanship," said Del. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, arguing that GOP support of teachers is long-standing.
Democrats questioned why no Republicans had put in budget amendments calling for a teacher pay raise earlier in the session. The only two such amendments came from Democrats, said Del. Tom Jackson, D-Hillsville.
Jon Glass of Landmark News Service contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB