TEXAS AFT LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE--MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2009
(copyright 2009 Texas AFT)

Case Study in Advocacy: Houston Federation of Teachers Holds School Board to Account for Pay Raise Required by State Law

We tried to tell 'em. In June the Houston ISD school board ignored the superintendent's advice and adopted a proposed salary schedule that was not in compliance with newly enacted state law.

Our local affiliate, the Houston Federation of Teachers, backed up by a letter from Texas AFT general counsel Martha Owen, explained that the school board had no basis for flouting the state law, which requires a pass-through pay raise, on top of the step increases specified in the district's 2008-2009 salary schedule, for school years 2009-2010 and 2010-2011.
 
The school board nonetheless voted on June 25 to adopt a salary schedule that subtracted significant amounts from the step increases built into the 2008-2009 salary schedule for teachers with six, 15, or 30 years of experience. The school board chose to insert additional steps, in effect telling teachers they'd have to work an extra year to reach the pay step previously promised. The board's professed rationale for this maneuver was the supposed uncertainty of federal approval of the state pay-raise mandate. (Federal approval was required because the source of funds for the raise is the federal stimulus bill passed in February.)

"Somehow HISD looked into their crystal ball and determined that the Department of Education did not intend to pass the plan and because of that they were not bound to meet the mandates of the law," stated Houston Federation of Teachers President Gayle Fallon. "They reduced three steps and cheated teachers out of $760 - $3,550 of their-state mandated raise."

On July 20, the Houston Federation of Teachers responded by filing a class-action grievance on behalf of the educators adversely affected by the board's ill-advised action. And on July 24 the U.S. Department of Education duly approved the Texas plan for use of the federal stimulus money, including the state-directed pay raise. That same day state Commissioner of Education Robert Scott affirmed that school districts would be required to provide the pay raise as required by the new state law passed in May.

"HISD is out of excuses now that the plan has passed," said Fallon. "The district expects its employees to follow the law and the employees expect the district to do the same. The fact that individual board members disagree with the law is irrelevant. Once the state plan was approved, the law became clear."

The Federation demanded that HISD bring its salary schedule into legal compliance and include the full step increase for all employees paid on the teacher schedule. Once HISD made the adjustment to the schedule, the union said, it would withdraw the grievance and cancel impending legal action. On July 29, HISD placed a statement on its Web site declaring that the previously listed pay scale adopted in June was "deactivated since it is no longer accurate." Bottom line: Under pressure from the union, the district has decided to comply with the law. The revised and corrected salary schedules are now available on the employee Web portal. Congratulations to the Houston Federation of Teachers!