I spit on your stinkin’ 2.75 percent
Friday, August 29th, 2008 By Mike Maurer
Looks like a strike at a school district in Swanton.
This story says the school’s budget is $13 million or so. Around these parts, that’s a pretty small school district. Good for them.
There’s trouble brewing, though. The board has made an offer that isn’t disclosed, except to say that it’s “less than the 2.75 percent raise teachers received last year.”
The first thing to note is a big boo-hiss brickbat for this reporter and editor. There should never be a school salary story that fails to note the step chart. What this really means is that there is a 2.75 percent raise in the works, or in any event something less than that, PLUS the ordinary step chart raise. I’m guessing this means, let’s say, 2 percent base pay, PLUS 2 percent on average step chart. It wouldn’t surprise me if it were more than that.
Is a 4 percent raise really all that bad? I don’t know about you folks, but when I get an ordinary annual raise, it’s usually a matter of additional experience and such-and that’s not even mentioning those times when the raise is only a percent or two, or maybe no raise at all. No business is a perpetual money machine; just ask the newspapers and automakers.
Most of us don’t get to claim our raise twice, but public sector union employees sure do, and no news story about one is complete until it acknowledges the other.
Tags: Education, school funding
