CCSD, union propose veteran teacher raises

More than $54 million in pay raises are proposed for Clark County School District teachers this year, but it won’t help fill the 630 teacher vacancies leaving tens of thousands of students with permanent substitutes this school year.

The district and the teachers union have both complained that the starting salary for new teachers is largely to blame in the struggle to attract new teachers. That’s also why many applicants turned down job offers here, taking positions in higher- paying urban districts, such as Salt Lake City, which offers 9 percent more than Clark County, and Houston, where new teachers earn 42 percent more than district teachers.

The tentative 2014-15 contract negotiated between the Clark County Education Association and Clark County School District keeps the starting salary basically unchanged at $35,000 for new teachers with bachelor’s degrees, according to teacher union sources and documents obtained by the Review-Journal on Wednesday. The contract still needs to be finalized through a vote of the union membership and the Clark County School Board. The union is expected to vote on Oct. 1.

While part of the proposal calls for 1 percent pay raises across the board for all 18,000 teachers in March, an even larger pay raise would be immediately awarded to 8,000 of the district’s most senior teachers. This pay raise would also be retroactive to the beginning of the school year. These teachers ­— currently maxed out on the district’s pay scale — would be awarded the raise based on seniority, not performance.

The change follows an assertion by union Executive Director John Vellardita on Sept. 17 that new teachers’ salaries must be bolstered to fill classrooms with qualified educators, not substitutes, according to a letter to members.

“So, we start the school year with approximately 30,000 students (close to 10 percent of the student population) having a substitute teacher in the classroom. This is unacceptable, and yet very correctable,” said Vellardita, emphasizing the union’s push to increase teacher starting pay, as well as salaries for veteran teachers.

Vellardita and the teachers union didn’t respond to calls for comment Wednesday.

The union even presented the district with research it did of 10 other urban districts, finding they all pay new teachers more, whether it was Portland, Ore., paying $38,046, San Diego offering $42,210, Los Angeles at $45,637 or Houston with $49,100.

However, the union didn’t fight for new teacher pay hikes in negotiations, according to a union source. The reason: declining membership.

Union membership has been falling for years despite the district’s growth and more teachers. What was 13,000 members in 2007 has fallen to 10,647, according to union documents written on Sept. 23 and obtained by the Review-Journal. The union lost 147 members in the past month, according to those documents.

This concerns the union not only because membership dues bring in $2.6 million annually, constituting the bulk of its revenue. At least 50 percent of teachers must be members for the union to negotiate on their behalf with the district.

With about 18,000 teachers in the district, the union is skating closer and closer to that membership requirement. Membership stands at approximately 59 percent of district teachers, down from 62 percent in the 2012-13 school year.

Most of the continuing decline isn’t because new teachers aren’t joining the union or revoking their memberships, a union source said. It’s because of veteran teachers dropping their memberships, veteran teachers who haven’t received raises in years because they’ve climbed to the top of the ladder for seniority raises, the source added.

So, the union fought to add a rung, and won. Pay raises for these veteran teachers would range from 2 percent to 3 percent, on top of the 1 percent cost-of-living adjustment for all teachers, according to union sources.

A teacher with a bachelor’s degree and six years or more in the district was previously stuck at a a salary of $40,482 for the nine-month school year. A teacher with a master’s degree and 10 years or more in the district was capped at $51,890. And a teacher with a doctorate and advanced studies certification with 15 or more years in the district was limited to $70,765.

It’s unknown whether the district fought for substantial increases to salaries of starting teachers. District spokeswoman Kirsten Searer said the district is “not disclosing the details” of the School Board’s offer until the union presents it to members.

However, Searer said the district confirmed the findings of the teachers union that 10 comparable urban school districts all pay their new teachers more.

Contact Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279. Find him on Twitter: @TrevonMilliard.