THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 23, 1996 TAG: 9602230481
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS AND WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
House Democrats offered Virginia schoolteachers a 3.75 percent two-year raise on Thursday as they continued to compete with Republicans for the affections of the state's 75,000 public school instructors.
The proposed pay raise contrasts with a 5 percent two-year hike endorsed earlier this week by House Republicans, who are gleefully courting an influential constituency most often linked with Democrats.
On the House floor, Republicans argued that the larger raise - which they would fund by raiding proposed salary increases for college professors - was only fair.
But blocked in a procedural move from voting on their proposal, they joined with Democrats to approve the 3.75 percent hike. The 97-3 vote came during a six-hour session in which the House approved its version of the state's $34.6 billion budget.
Republican leaders said they will look to an eight-member conference committee of the House and Senate to find more money for teachers before the legislature adjourns on March 9. That committee of senior lawmakers is assigned to work out differences in versions of the budget approved by the House and Senate.
The Senate dedicated no extra money for teacher raises on Thursday. They endorsed a plan by Gov. George F. Allen which provides no raises next year and 3 percent hikes in fiscal year starting July 1, 1997.
Even without a special appropriation, several senators argued that the state has done well by teachers.
They pointed out that the state budget provides an overall 7.5 percent increase in funding public schools over the next two years. The increase comes at a time when enrollment is only expected to increase by 1.5 percent. The senators said the education appropriation leaves localities with wide latitude to give teachers raises.
``The localities have come off better in school funding this year then they have in some time,'' said Sen. Stanley C. Walker, D-Norfolk, co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. ``There's enough money to give raises, but we've quit mandating that localities give them.''
``Teachers are local employees, not state employees,'' said Sen. Warren E. Barry, R-Fairfax. ``To complain that they have been ill-treated by this body is unfair.''
Barry called teachers the ``singularly most advantaged employee group in Virginia since 1982,'' noting that since that time, teacher raises have far outstripped increases for state workers. He said that the $35,037 average salary Virginia teachers receive for 10 months of work, if prorated to a year, is 14.3 percent higher than the average pay of state employees.
But House Republicans disagreed, arguing that it is unfair to give college professors 6 to 8 percent raises as proposed in the budget while holding teachers to a smaller amount.
At least half of the House GOP members have endorsed a plan to give both groups 2 percent raises next year and 3 percent the following year. They would fund the plan by cutting several hundred new college positions and by reducing faculty raises.
House Democrats would pay for their smaller raises largely by raiding $29.7 million from a maintenance fund for state buildings. Democrats acknowledged that their plan would leave the upkeep fund without money in 1997.
Robley S. Jones, president of the Virginia Education Association, said that teachers are pleased money is being added to the budget, but want more.
The problem with relying on local governments to give raises, he said, is that poorer localities cannot afford to help their teachers as much as wealthier ones.
``Are we satisfied? No,'' said Jones, noting that teachers were hoping for 5 percent raises each year of the biennium. ``Is it better than what the governor gave us? You bet.''
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY TEACHERS SALARIES by CNB