TEXAS AFT LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE--WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2009 (copyright 2009 Texas AFT)   Districts Getting Message: No Way to Avoid Giving Required Pay Raise   School districts slowly but surely, and sometimes only grudgingly, are coming to accept that they don't have an option regarding the pay raise passed by the legislature in May--it's required. Two days ago we reported on the change of tune in Houston ISD, where the school board under pressure from the Houston Federation of Teachers (our local affiliate) apparently has given up on an attempt to circumvent the state law. Now we have a new case in point to report from South San Antonio ISD.   There the school board was practicing a different variant of denial, arguing that the state law didn't really require any adjustment of the school district's salary schedule. The rationale was that the money for the state-directed raise comes from a temporary stream of federal funds that will dry up after two years, so the district should send the money to employees in the form of a temporary bonus, with no lasting impact on the local salary schedule.   This theory has now been thoroughly punctured and deflated. For one thing, our Bexar County affiliate reports, the Texas Association of School Boards informed South San that the district had no choice but to adjust its salary schedule to reflect the state-directed raise.   In addition, the state commissioner of education has made it even more starkly clear that districts have an obligation to provide the pay raise regardless of the temporary nature of federal funding used to increase districts' state aid for the next two years. In a July 30 letter to school superintendents, Commissioner of Education Robert Scott pointed out that only about 3 percent of total state aid to districts comes from the new federal money, and he suggested that districts are welcome to use some of the other 97 percent to fund the pay raise. The bottom line: The commissioner's letter reinforces the message that state law requires an increase in local salaries based on the increased overall amount of state aid that districts are receiving, and the increase is not contingent on the temporary federal funding stream.   For South San teachers and others covered by the state-directed pay raise, the upshot is that they will receive a pay increase of $2,201 for the coming school year (including the local step increase also mandated in the state law). And the good news doesn't stop there. Thanks to the overall funding increase made possible by federal stimulus dollars this year, South San auxiliary employees will get a $1,000 raise.   Meanwhile, our San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel affiliate in neighboring San Antonio ISD also has a big win to its credit on employee compensation. Teachers will see an average pay increase of 4.9 percent this school year, with no teacher receiving less than a $2,000 raise. And thanks to a firm stand by the San Antonio Alliance, support personnel will receive a matching average pay raise of 4.9 percent.   (Note:  The state-mandated teacher raise varies by district. Each district must provide the greater of $800 or the uniform amount it can afford using $60 per "weighted" pupil in new state funding. That increase is on top of any local step increases called for under the district's 2008-2009 salary schedule, as if that schedule were in force for each of the upcoming two school years.)