Steve Flowers: New fiscal year begins, teachers and state employees looking good
The new state fiscal year begins October 1, and the two state budgets are flush. Both the General Fund and the State Special Education Budgets will be the largest in state history. The General Fund Budget is a record-breaking $2.7 billion. It increases the revenue for mental health and prisons. Medicaid continues to be a money-eating monster. State employees are getting a 4% cost of living raise. This is the third time in recent history that state workers have gotten a back-to-back pay raise. In addition, retired state employees will get a bonus. State Senator Greg Albritton (R-Escambia) and Representative Steve Clouse (R-Ozark), the budget chairmen, deserve accolades. Veteran Alabama State Employees Association executive director Mac McArthur deserves a lot of credit for state employees getting a 4% pay increase this year and 2% last year. Ole Mac has put together four raises in five years for his folks. Alabama Education Association (“AEA”) head Amy Marlowe and her chief lobbyist ally, Ashley McLain, deserve kudos for garnering a 4% teacher pay raise. Once again, the AEA has become a power to be reckoned with on Goat Hill. The legislature passed a record-breaking $8.17 billion Education Budget. The historic spending plan increases education funding by about $502 million over the current year. It drew praise from all corners of education for its increases, which includes teachers’ salaries and workforce development. There will be more money for classroom materials, the hiring of technology coordinators and reading coaches, and $20 million to implement the K-5 math instruction bill. The budget includes a 4% raise for teachers and lump-sum bonuses for retirees. There is also a $33 million bonus to increase teacher longevity. Other states have been giving similar salary adjustments. One of the budget allotments that has gotten the most accolades is the increase from $700 to $900 per classroom in supply money. The story that has been building over the past several years is the resurgence of the AEA as a power player on Goat Hill. The fruits of their labor emerged immensely during the regular session. It is apparent that AEA was instrumental in crafting the Education Budget with the 4% pay increase for teachers and the money that is going into the classroom. You would have thought Dr. Paul Hubbert was still sitting in the gallery directing legislators’ votes with a thumbs up or a thumbs down. They have built AEA into a power to be reckoned with at the Statehouse. The new leadership of Marlowe/McLain have reorganized by acknowledging that Alabama, and especially the Alabama Legislature, is very Republican. They understand the rule that “money is the mother’s milk of politics” and “you win more bees with honey.” The AEA has generously donated to House Republicans like nobody’s business and no other Special Interest entity. It is no longer taboo or heresy for a Republican legislator or State Senator to accept teacher union money. They have made $10,000 to $15,000 contributions to House members on both sides of the aisle. In reviewing campaign disclosure statements, AEA is the only entity writing checks that large. Checks to senator’s coffers are $25,000 or more. AEA lobbyists, especially Ashley McLain, have earned the friendship and respect of the Republican House members and Senators. She and her team have gone out to their districts all over the state and gotten to know them and their families. They have connected the legislator with key educators in their hometowns who are respected centers of influence and can orchestrate a field or army of teachers to work the districts for their legislative friends. This footwork and shoe leather, coupled with large campaign checks, hits home with legislators of both parties. The telling blow that resonated and echoed off the walls of the Statehouse was the defeat of the so-called School Choice Bill. Senator Del Marsh made it his final mission to place state education dollars into private, parochial, and charter schools. His school choice was given a stinging defeat by none other than the AEA. Folks, make no doubt about it; the AEA is back in Alabama politics. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
Alabama lawmakers approve teacher pay raise
Alabama lawmakers on Wednesday approved the largest teacher pay raise in a generation in an effort to keep experienced educators in the classroom. The raises are included in the education trust fund budget that got final approval when the Alabama House of Representatives agreed, without a dissenting vote, to Senate changes. The budget bill now goes to Gov. Kay Ivey for her signature. Teachers with nine or more years of experience would get raises ranging from 5% to up to nearly 21% for those with 35 years of classroom experience. Teachers with less than nine years of experience would see a 4% raise. School systems in Alabama and across the country have reported concerns about teacher shortages, particularly as the coronavirus pandemic accelerated a wave of retirements. That has led states to look at pay increases and other measures to try to recruit and retain educators. Rep. Danny Garrett, the chairman of the House budget-writing committee, said the goal is to make public school salaries more competitive for mid-career educators. “Already, we’ve heard of teachers who are reevaluating their retirement based upon this compensation. We’re actually competing with the private sector for some of these teachers. I think this goes a long way to make it very competitive,” Garrett said. A teacher with a bachelor’s degree and 10 years of experience would see their minimum salary rise from $48,822 to $51,795. A teacher with a bachelor’s degree and 20 years of experience would see their minimum salary rise from $51,810 to $57,214. A teacher with a master’s degree and 25 years of experience would see their minimum salary rise from $61,987 to $69,151. Amy Marlowe, executive director of the Alabama Education Association, said there has been a positive response from educators. “We’ve had so many who have said they are actually going to stay in the classroom who were considering retirement. I think it will go a long way toward the intent of the Legislature of retaining teachers,” Marlowe said. She said the budget also provides “much-needed resources in Alabama classrooms,” such as technology coordinators and reading and math coaches. The spending plan would also provide an automatic 1% yearly raise for educators and do away with a salary cap that currently ends step raises after 27 years of teaching. Alabama teachers last saw large pay raises in the 1980s when lawmakers approved 15% increases for two consecutive years during George Wallace’s last term as governor. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama lawmakers advance historic pay raises for teachers
Alabama lawmakers are poised to approve the largest pay raises in a generation for experienced public school teachers in an effort to keep educators from leaving state classrooms. The Alabama Senate voted 32-0 Thursday for the budget that would raise minimum salaries for teachers with nine or more years experience. The raises would range from 5% to nearly 21%, depending on years of experience. Sen. Arthur Orr, the chairman of the budget writing committee, said the goal is to encourage experienced teachers to stay in the classroom and to attract more students to the field of teaching. The spending plan now moves back to the Alabama House of Representatives, where House leaders have expressed support for the raises. “Hopefully, seeing those pay raises, we’ll have more people staying in education rather than saying, ‘I’m out, I’m tired,’” Orr, a Republican from Decatur, said. The size of the raise would be based on a teacher’s years of experience. A teacher with a bachelor’s degree and 20 years of experience would see their salary rise from $51,810 to $57,214. A teacher with a master’s degree and 25 years of experience would see their pay rise from $61,987 to $69,151. Teachers with less than nine years of experience would see a 4% raise. Orr said the state has competitive salaries for new teachers compared to surrounding states, but the state is “falling behind” in salaries for mid-career educators. The proposal would also provide an automatic 1% yearly raise and do away with a salary cap that currently ends step raises after 27 years of teaching. Orr said that should give educators — and those considering teaching as a career — some minimum guarantee of how their salaries will increase over time. School systems in Alabama and across the country have reported concerns about teacher shortages, particularly as the coronavirus pandemic accelerated a wave of retirements. That has led states to look at pay increases and other measures to try to recruit and retain educators. Amy Marlowe, executive director of the Alabama Education Association, said the positive response from teachers has been “just overwhelming.” “This will do more to keep people in the classroom than what we originally thought,” Marlowe said. Marlowe said school systems are seeing a teacher shortage in all subjects and in all grades as educators leave the classroom for retirement or other jobs. She said the state is at the precipice of a staffing cliff unless something is done. Under the current proposal, teachers with 35 years experience would see a record-setting yearly raise of nearly 21%, Marlowe said. Marlowe said teachers last saw large pay raises in the 1980s when lawmakers approved 15% increases for two consecutive years during George Wallace’s last term as governor. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on Wednesday signed legislation authorizing a pay raise for that state’s public school teachers, long among the lowest-paid in the nation. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alabama teachers who smoke to pay more for health insurance
A state board on Thursday approved a number of changes to state education employee benefit plans to help offset a nearly $140 million shortfall for 2016. Changes to the Public Education Employees’ Insurance Plan will go into effect when the new year fiscal year begins Oct. 1. Approved changes will increase the surcharge for smokers to $50 from $28. Copays for some medical specialists will increase by $5. The changes will also affect employees with a spouse on the plan: Fees for a spouse will increase by $25 each year from 2016 to 2018 before capping at $75 a year. Retirement Systems of Alabama Deputy Director Don Yancey said the shortfall largely is due to increased health care costs. “The bottom line is that health insurance costs are skyrocketing everywhere,” he said. “It’s not just in Alabama. Other states are faced with this same problem.” “I don’t think anyone would try and sit there with a straight face and tell you that health insurance is cheaper than it was eight years ago,” he said. The board voted down the largest measure, which would have increased monthly premiums by $10 for individual employees and $20 for families. The current monthly premium is $15 for an individual. Amy Marlowe, a spokeswoman for the Alabama Education Association, an education employee lobby, said it was a “big victory.” She said employees haven’t received a raise in eight years and can’t afford to pay increased health care costs. “They just absolutely could not afford any type of increase in premium for the health insurance program,” Marlowe said. The majority of the shortfall will be replaced by transferring funds from the state’s retiree health care trust fund. In 2007, the Alabama Legislature created the fund to begin saving money as a way to defray future health care costs of retired education employees. Under the law, the state can transfer up to 10 percent of the fund’s market value for the previous year. Yancey said that should allow PEEHIP to receive as much as $115 million for 2016. He said the plan will receive $65 million to fill a shortfall for the remainder of fiscal year 2015 and then another $82 million for the next year. Yancey said 2015 will mark the first time money is transferred. He said the fund was never intended to be a slush fund. “Kind of like your savings account,” Yancey said. “If you dip into it every month to pay the bills, it will disappear pretty quick.” Yancey said the board will have to consider a number of new options for fiscal year 2017. “This is a major problem that we’re faced with and it’s going to be ongoing,” he said. “Essentially we’re going to have to face this every year to try to figure out how to come up with enough money to keep the program every year, which is a very, very good health insurance program.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
