Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter



CAT Tracks for June 8, 2009
SPEAKING OF SALARY SCHEDULES...

In "Stepping Out...", CAT Tracks introduced you to the new improved way of looking at Cairo School District Number One teacher salary schedules...the new numbering system of "1-29" to replace the software-impaired "0-28".

Cat Tracks provided a "disclaimer"...that the shift involved "NO RAISE", that you would simply look in a different place for the same salary.

Well, THAT was not the BIG CHANGE...that was simply a "bookkeeping" concession...hopefully that would avoid paycheck errors due to manual transcription.

The BIG CHANGE is that the new-improved salary schedules for 2008-09, 2009-10, and 2010-11 will present teacher salaries that INCLUDE, RATHER THAN EXCLUDE TRS.

If you still have a copy of your old Contract, you will note that at the bottom of the salary schedules, it states *Does not include full Board Paid Retirement. This "presentation" made it easy for the employee to compute their "taxable income", needing only to divide by 24 (the number of payroll periods) in order to arrive at his/her gross (no catty comments, please) income.

Some school districts present salary schedules in this manner, while others present salary schedules that INCLUDE the TRS. Some districts (including CSD #1 in the thrilling days of yesteryear) print BOTH.

The "TRS INCLUDED" number is significantly larger.

Example:

A brand newbie teacher with a BS degree for the 2009-10 school year would look at "STEP 1" (remember, there will be no "STEP 0") and see that he/she will make $29,052 instead of the "starting salary" of $25,026 that such teachers made in the 2007-08 school year.

WOW!!!

Starting salary in CSD #1 went up by $4,026???

DOUBLE WOW!!!

Uh, just a second...

Yes, the starting salary from 2007-08 to 2009-10 went up. BUT...

I ass-u-me that tempered your celebration...

The other $2,731 is sent directly from CSD #1 to TRS. It never touches your furry little paws...until you are old and gray!

"What's up with that?", you say...

The Board of Education took a position early on in negotiations that they wanted to raise the starting salaries...to make them "more competitive" with surrounding districts...to enable them to recruit new teachers.

When the Association responded to their concern by presenting a salary schedule that would do that, the BOE choked on what it would cost.

In short, the Board of Education wanted higher salaries but did not want to pay for them...

That's when they came up with their "brain storm" (brain fart?) of eliminating "STEP 0" and paying first-year teachers the same salary as second-year teachers, a non-starter for those who had "served their time" at STEP 0. PLUS, their "fix" did NOT have the desired result, as their new-improved starting salary was still woefully low.

In order to get the Board to back off of their "eliminate STEP 0" fixation, the Association showed them other ways to accomplish their purpose without making philosophically obnoxious changes to the structure of the salary schedule.

Thus the birth of the new-improved salary schedule which INCLUDES the money paid by the BOE on behalf of the employee for retirement purposes...a difference of thousands of dollars.

I think we can agree that the District will be more likely to "sign" a new teacher when they offer them $29,052 instead of $25,026. (Heck, beginning with the 2010-11 School Year, CSD #1 can - WILL - boast that it pays its beginning teachers $29,907...almost $30,000!)

The "powers that be" will not bother to explain to the "brand newbie" that the "quoted" salary will be reduced significantly when actually paid.

But, hey, that's "fair"...

That's what happens in the "real world"! Do you think that the manager of Walmart dutifully explains to the potential new "Associate" that Social Security will be withheld from their paycheck...reducing their pitiful amount of money to the poverty level?

It's a dog-eat-dog world out there...which now includes CATs.

It's "doubly fair" in that most other school districts do the same thing...publish salary schedules that INCLUDE TRS. Might as well level the playing field for CSD #1.

It's a "whatcha don't know" world out there!


So, again, when you receive your copy of the new CBA...keep the "disclaimers" in mind. Do NOT think that the BOE over the summer changed its mind and felt that you were over-worked and under-paid and out of the goodness of their collective hearts decided to give you a nice fat raise.

Ain't gonna happen...