Check's on its way to mailbox — guv OKs teacher pay raises
Educators in at least 23 school districts finally will get their full $2,500 raise the Legislature attempted to give them last session, when calculation errors essentially shortchanged them. The rest of those $1,000 bonuses is on its way, too.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. late Wednesday signed HB1, the first bill-turned-law of the 2008 Legislature. The bill provides a $2.95 billion base budget for public education, a sort of general business item (the fireworks over new money are in the weeks to come). But the bill this year included a noteworthy $19.9 million to make good on the pay raise, and $2.4 million for the bonus shortfall.
Teachers in the state's largest school district eagerly await the money.
"The teachers have remembered that (shortfall), and they've been following it, and they are very happy this has finished being funded," Jordan Education Association President Robin Frodge said Thursday.
The check's not quite in the mail. But it's close.
The bill sends the money to the State Office of Education, which will process and pass it to school districts by late February, office finance and budget auditor Von Hortin said.
"We're trying to be fiscally responsible, and we had made a commitment to the teachers organization that as soon as we recognize it, we would get it right out to them," Hudnall said.
Beaver District teachers likely will see it in their March paychecks, Superintendent Ray Terry said. Jordan teachers hope to see it around the same time, Frodge said.
Most school districts plan to give teachers a check for the part of the raise they haven't received up to this point, Hortin said. "They mean to catch them up right away."
But teachers in 15 school districts don't have as much to worry about, as their district bosses funded the full raise and bonus, trusting the Legislature would make good on its promise to fill in the shortfall. Those districts are: Alpine, Box Elder, Cache, Daggett, Duchesne, Iron, Juab, Kane, Rich, San Juan, South Sanpete, Uintah, Washington, Weber and Logan. The HB1 money would be reimbursement.
Also on the teacher pay front Thursday the House passed a bill that would result in increased salaries and an extended school year for math, science and technology teachers.
HB270 would appropriate $11 million to establish an optional grant program that would allow districts and charter schools to establish Utah Science Technology and Research Initiative Centers.
Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley, indicated the grants would help nudge districts in the direction of using school buildings in the summer while increasing pay for math and science teachers and providing extended opportunities for students.
He said that exactly what those centers would look like is vague in the bill by design, which would give the school districts the latitude to craft the centers to fit their individual needs.
Other potential benefits of the program include the ability to compete in getting quality teachers in the critical shortage areas of math and science, decreased class sizes, improved student college preparation and opportunities for earlier high school graduation.
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com; terickson@desnews.com
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