Cumberland County Association of Educators

You’ve heard about the Senate’s so-called “biggest teacher pay raise in the history of North Carolina.”  It is actually the biggest bait-and-switch scheme in state history-a vindictive and cynical attempt to take advantage of economically hard-pressed teachers in North Carolina.

You know it tries to entice teachers to permanently surrender their due process rights in exchange for an average 11 percent pay raise.  Teachers who do not give up their constitutionally protected due process rights get no raise under the Senate proposal. This is because they want to undo what we have won in court, protecting due process rights.

Budget provisions (click on the link and go to pages 38-60) will wipe out our court gains, and will subject teachers who agree to the Senate’s pay plan to the whims of future legislatures and the ups and downs of financing mistakes or budget shortfalls. (See section 9.7) The Senate has written into its proposal that the Legislature can modify future salaries or contracts at any time, with no recourse by the teachers.

This is a political game by the Senate– they are rewriting the law on teacher contracts to give this Legislature and any other Legislature endless ‘outs’ if they fail to fund teacher pay or maintain this new proposed salary scale-but the teachers’ decision, once they choose to sign up for this deceptive pay hike, is irrevocable.  The teachers will lose their career status permanently and be trapped in the new salary schedule, and the Legislature will be free to do as they will.” (See Section 9.3)

The most vindictive piece of this bill is aimed squarely at teachers who join together to defend their constitutional rights, as was recently done in NCAE vs The State. It says that if provisions are litigated and found unconstitutional, as we have successfully done, all teachers will be moved to the career status salary schedule where there will be no pay raises. So even if we win in court, the Legislature says teachers lose. This is an unconscionable attempt to stifle free speech and to keep teachers from defending themselves in court.

They are trying to sell teachers with a charade of smoke and mirrors, and they think we are not smart enough to see through it.

We need to put them on notice that we are watching, whether they approve their budget at midnight or 5 AM Sunday– we will not accept this kind of action from the Senate or the House — not without a fight.

And the fight is not just for teachers, but for ALL the education employees and services that this terrible budget cuts. Those cuts are wrong.

ACT NOW AND JOIN THE FIGHT!

They’re planning to pass this budget quickly, before people can mobilize.  Call your Senator and tell him/her what you think of the way he/she is structuring education funding and teacher raises.  If you can come to Raleigh tomorrow or Saturday to sit in the gallery while the Senate debate it, please come and wear your black or red t-shirt. We have to be heard now, before the House receives the budget and perhaps agrees to these punitive, deceptive plans.  Watch the Senate calendar here for news of their schedule, which could change at any time.   And call your House member and tell him/her this budget is all wrong, and he/she needs to give teachers and all school employees a professional pay raise without tearing down the fabric of our educational system.

If you cannot come this week/weekend, I hope you will plan to join us at 5 PM Monday, June 9, for Education Moral Monday in downtown Raleigh.  And, come to Raleigh on June 25 for our mass rally to GRADE THE LEGISLATURE.

Thank YOU for all you have done to raise the voice of teachers. We will be heard!

Rodney Ellis, NCAE president