‘Helping the children’ nothing but a phrase
Gov. Bob Riley’s proposal to give education employees a 4-percent pay raise while also increasing education funding in other areas was good and reasonable. His proposal to pull $70 million from the currently healthy Education Budget to prop up the ailing General Fund budget was not, because it represents another band-aid approach that would have done nothing to solve the General Fund’s annual crisis beyond this year.
AEA chief Paul Hubbert’s opposition to taking money from the Education Budget for the General Fund was good and reasonable, since allowing it would open the door for future financing of other areas at the expense of our still underfunded schools. His insistence on a 7-percent pay raise for education employees was not, because a raise of that magnitude would mean those still underfunded education programs would have to be cut in future years, probably as early as next year.
So what is the Legislature doing? It looks like it is adopting some of the worst of both plans. Education budget committees in both houses are recommending giving Hubbard’s education employees a 6-percent raise (which Hubbard said would be the lowest figure he would accept, which probably means that is what he was after all along), while the House approved a General Fund budget that would siphon a smaller amount ($15 million) from the Education Budget and cut $43 million from the Children First Trust Fund, which pays for children’s programs. This would include the entire budget for the Department of Children’s Affairs and would force the Department of Human Resources to cut 8,500 children from subsidized day care, according to administration estimates.
Teachers deserve an affordable pay raise, but it is clear that for now 6 percent is not affordable.
According to the American Federation of Teachers, Alabama’s teachers aren’t paid that badly, especially when compared to how the rest of education in Alabama is funded. For the 2002-2003 year, Alabama’s average teacher salary of $39,524 ranked it 33rd in the country. Alabama’s beginning teacher salary of $31,000 was 20th highest nationwide. According to the Census Bureau, Alabama ranked 44th that same year in the amount of money it spends per pupil in public schools. At $6,395 per pupil Alabama is 20 percent below the national average.
Spending for education other than salaries is where the emphasis needs to be, but sadly, and typically, it is not.
From an advertising campaign by the Riley administration, to a form letter-mailing campaign orchestrated by AEA, to noble pronouncements by various legislators, there are a lot of bogus claims being made about “helping the children.”
Actions speak louder than words in this case, and it looks from here like “helping the children” is taking a back seat to politics and greed.
