The Tar'HeelThursday, May 26, 19889
"eachers association
requests pay irscreas
rejects Martin's plan
From Associated Press reports
RALEIGH The state's biggest
teacher organization Monday asked
the General Assembly for a 12 percent
pay increase next year, while the State
Board of Education chairman also
called Gov. Jim Martin's proposed
4.5 percent raise inadequate.
"While we respect the governor's
responsibility to present what he
considers his best recommendations,
we believe that he has fallen short
of what is possible and needed in
several areas," said Gladys Graves,
president of the N.C. Association of
Educators (NCAE).
Graves also urged the Legislature's
Joint Appropriations Committee to
lift the freeze on step increases in the
Dubhc school salary schedule and to
spend $16.7 million for the final
installment of a four-year experiment
with a career ladder program. But she
reiterated the NCAE's opposition to
statewide implementation of the
career ladder without further
evaluation.
Graves presented the NCAE's
budget request after Howard
Haworth, chairman of the State
Board of Education, outlined that
group's supplemental budget propos
als for fiscal 1988-89. The board's
request totaled $193.4 million, com
pared with $131.7 million recom
mended by Martin for public schools.
Martin's blueprint for adding $558
million to the 1988-89 state budget
is the focus of the Appropriations
Committee's hearings in preparation
for the short session that gets under
way June 2.
Haworth, a Martin appointee,
recommended a 7 percent pay
increase for all public school
employees. It would cost $169.5
million instead of the $110 million
recommended by the governor for
school personnel and other state
employees. Under Martin's plan,
some employees would receive less
than a 4.5 percent raise if merit pay,
frozen since 1982, is restored.
A 12 percent pay raise for teachers
and administrators, as recommended
by the NCAE, would cost $240
million.
Haworth noted that the board had
set a goal two years ago of boosting
teacher pay by 28 percent over the
next four years. The Legislature
provided 5 percent the first year,
1986, and 6.5 percent in 1987.
To get back on schedule would
require a 9 percent raise in 1988-89
but the board considered that unreal-
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istic "under the current economic
circumstances and the revenue flow
projections," Haworth said.
But he urged lawmakers to provide
a 7 percent raise "if at all possible,"
saying it would accomplish another
board goal of a $20,000 starting salary
for teachers.
Despite their customary eagerness
to grant higher raises than Martin,
a Republican seeking re-election t' "s
year, Democratic leaders were not
optimistic about meeting either the
NCAE or education board requests.
"Four and a half is right strong.
Possibly five," said Rep. Billy Wat
kins, D-Granville, chairman of the
House Appropriations Committee.
He said he wasnt surprised by the
pleas tor more money but aaaea,
"Before you give that much youVe
got to start talking about which taxes
you're going to raise."
Senate Appropriations Committee
chairman Aaron Plyler, D-Union,
agreed. "I don't know where the
money's going to come from. Nat
urally, we want to do what we can.
But with the revenue picture, I just
don't see doing much more than the
governor proposed."
Some lawmakers have accused
Martin of requesting up to $100
million more than revenue estimates
justify, which he denies. David
Crotts, the Legislature's chief fiscal
analyst, was scheduled to report on
his latest revenue projections
Wednesday.
Graves said she did not consider
the NCAE proposal unrealistic. "I
have great expectations."
The public schools joined the
Department of Community Colleges
and the UNC system, which made
their requests to the committee last
week, in asking the Legislature to go
beyond Martin's budget recommen
dations for education.
The board of education's package
also included $24.2 million to boost
pay and benefits for school bus
drivers as the state recruits adult
replacements for 17-year-old bus
drivers and $12.5 million for the first
year of a five-year plan to increase
the per-child amount for the academ
ically gifted to the same rate as the
handicapped ($1,536).
The board also requested $144,574
for the two additional teacher certi
fication specialists in the Department
of Public Education, which state
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Craig Phillips acknowledged would
still leave that office shorthanded.
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