email from VEA Teacher's union...success and failures in 2006 General Assembly

[Gopher Broke]

Dear Cyber-lobbyist:

The following is a summary of theVEA perspective on 2006 General Assembly Sessions to date:

2006 Sessions 1 & 2: Winning Ugly in Overtime

From your GR Director

A thorough search of soul and gray matter (a limited commodity here) leads me to what seems the best analogy for the 2006 General Assembly Sessions. It has been like the experience of going to see your favorite basketball team play. They play horribly, but win in overtime despite the atrocious play. You leave disappointed by the sloppiness of the play, not focusing on the fact that they achieved the desired outcome.

VEA Wins

Budget

On our top priority, salary, Governor Warner’s introduced budget disappointed as it included only a 3% raise. Incoming Governor Kaine introduced an amendment to increase this amount by 1% as one of his first actions in office. The House and Senate have now agreed to 4% beginning December 1. This will give localities more for salary than expected, and we will have to work on the local level to bring local school boards to revisit the salary issue and offer a December 1 adjustment.

Despite some movement of the pea and the shells, per-pupil expenditure for the 2006-07 school year will increase more than 12% as compared to 2005-06. The biennial re-benchmarking was funded. The total increase in K-12 funding is $1.56 billion. VEA supported increased funding for the Virginia Pre-School Initiative, and an additional $6.6 million is provided. An additional $39.3 million was added to strengthen the VRS fund. Monies are provided for the Literary Fund to reduce the First Priority Waiting List for public school construction loans. Interestingly, for both biennial budgets introduced by Governor Warner, the General Assembly exceeded the level of funding he proposed for PreK-12 public education.

Legislation

Senator Whipple’s SB324 establishes a salary goal for teachers. The new goal is standing within the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) region, rather than the national average, but this will give us a handle to use as we seek to bring Virginia’s teacher salaries up to a competitive level. “The end of the State’s pursuit of a salary goal” has been cited by JLARC’s Bob Rotz as one of the reasons for Virginia’s failure to adequately support the salaries of teachers.

School busses will no longer be “rolling road blocks” on Virginia’s highways, as busses will be able to go 45 on primary highways and 55 on the interstate highways. (E. Scott’s HB650)

Bus drivers, teacher assistants and bus aides will enjoy expanded immunity from prosecution when they are using force to maintain order, quell a disturbance, protect a student from himself, self defense or defense of others or to seize weapons, dangerous objects or controlled substances. (Houck’s SB26 and Orrock’s HB70)

Give Me A “D”

In the current political climate, defeating bad bills is as important as advancing our own agenda. VEA’s Legislative Committee identified fifteen bills that should be defeated and with your help we killed them all!

Tuition Tax Credit and Voucher bills included Saxman’s HB1294, Martin’s SB189, Obenshain’s SB331, and Stosch’s SB544 & 545.

Delegate Bell once again led an assault on our VRS traditional pension plan by offering a personal risk account option (HB1331). Once again this effort failed. Delegate Putney clearly understands the role of the VRS in attracting and retaining a quality work force for state and local governments and is our champion on this issue.

Cole’s HB144 and McDougle’s SB382 attempted to bar teachers who lose their jobs as a result of losing their license from drawing unemployment compensation. These bills would have had teachers treated differently from all others.

Frederick’s HB481 and Albo’s HB780 offered the 65% solution to funding education in Virginia. Under these proposals 65% of funds would have to go “to the classroom.” The problem with this one-size-fits-all simplistic approach is that the 65% does not include guidance counselors, nurses, librarians, attendance takers, social workers, security guards, secretaries, bus drivers, janitors, cafeteria workers, administrators, buses, operation costs like heating and cooling, maintenance costs, background checks, testing programs to comply with No Child Left Behind and Standards of Learning, technology, curriculum development, and on and on the myriad of services that comprise a school day and education in this century. These essential services would have had to have been cut by one-fifth had the 65% measures passed.

Delegate Tata’s HB1408 would have allowed private school students to ride public school busses.

Delegate Cosgrove’s HB472 would have allowed private school teachers to utilize the Virginia Teacher Scholarship Loan Program. The forgivable loan program is so under-funded that it doesn’t currently meet the needs of public school teachers.

Delegate Poisson introduced bills to eliminate licensure of administrators (HB274) and to require that school boards pay teachers in shortage areas more (HB273).

Fifteen of fifteen isn’t bad. We killed them all!

Conclusion

The major disappointments of the session are the failure to gain enhancements to the retiree health care credit and the inclusion of public money to private schools in the budget. The funding to private schools starts the second year of the biennium, so we have another session to fight on this.

However, as you can see, we had some successes as well. As usual, because of your efforts, VEA had a major impact upon the 2006 sessions.

Thanks for all you did!

Robley Jones

VEA GR

[teacherwoes]

>>>>Delegate Cosgrove’s HB472 would have allowed private school teachers to utilize the Virginia Teacher Scholarship Loan Program. The forgivable loan program is so under-funded that it doesn’t currently meet the needs of public school teachers


I suppose, in VA, that private school teachers have to have the same education to be certified as public school teachers do. Just shows that public school teachers continue to want everything for themselves and look down on their private school counterparts (but then what else is new).