Will teachers, principals and other school staff accept $4 million in pay cuts that were approved in Olympia?
They don't have to. Under their union contracts, employees aren't required to give up a cent in salary, no matter what state lawmakers voted.
But administrators are asking them to do so, hoping to avoid cutting $4 million from other areas, some of which they have cut already.
The same negotiations are going on across the state as schools districts figure out how to absorb more than $1 billion in state funding cuts, including $179 million in salary reductions. For teachers and support staff, lawmakers voted to lower state salary allocations by 1.9 percent. For administrators, it's 3 percent
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In Seattle, union leaders have told the School Board to look elsewhere to make reductions. Olga Addae, president of the teachers union, has said she'd rather see the district forgo buying new textbooks. To fill in a $45 million shortfall for the upcoming year, it's already cut about 90 central-office jobs, eliminated or reduced school-bus service and will not offer any summer school.
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Even with a 1.9 percent cut, however, pay for many teachers wouldn't see a net drop. In Seattle, for example, teachers already were scheduled to get a 1 percent raise for the 2011-12 school year, and the district isn't talking about doing away with that. In addition, many will still get an additional salary increase if they're still working their way up the salary ladder, earning additional pay for each year of experience, or for earning advanced degrees.
