Georgia breaks pledge to teachers

By Allene Magill

These are tough times for Georgians, and our state’s teachers, like other state employees, have been required to take several furlough days. While furloughs and health insurance premium increases for educators are regrettable, given the current state of the economy, they are at least understandable.

What is not understandable, however, is the attempt by state leaders to take away several thousand dollars — in addition to the furloughs and insurance increases — from the salaries of nationally board certified teachers, some of the state’s most accomplished educators. At best, this is a misguided attempt to save a relatively small sum (in comparison to the overall budget) by taking away a significant portion of the salaries of a few teachers.

At worst, this is a clear breach of contract between the state and teachers who were promised a salary supplement if they completed a rigorous, nationally recognized certification process. The teachers kept their end of the bargain; the state now wants to back out of the contract.

As part of the A+ Education Reform Act enacted during the previous administration, the state passed legislation to encourage Georgia teachers to improve their skills by participating in the National Board Certification training, which generally takes one or two years to complete and requires an investment of $2,500. One of the key incentives for teachers to pursue this certification was the promise of a 10 percent salary increase. In the years from 2000 to 2009, more than 2,500 teachers — some of the state’s most experienced and accomplished — obtained NBC status and saw their salaries rise by 10 percent, as promised.

Then came the current fiscal crisis, and suddenly, the General Assembly and governor decided that the state no longer had the funds to honor its obligation. During the 2009 legislative session, the General Assembly enacted legislation that ends the stipends for any future NBC teachers and reduces the supplement amount to 10 percent of a beginning teacher’s pay, as opposed to 10 percent of the teacher’s full salary as originally promised.

The 2009 legislation also makes payment of supplements to current NBC teachers dependent on legislative appropriation “if funds are available.” The net result has been a disaster for many NBC teachers.

Because local systems do not know if the state will send funds to cover the cost of the NBC supplements, many of these systems have been reluctant to front the funds. This means that some outstanding teachers have seen their checks reduced by several hundred dollars per month. For a few two-educator NBC families, the lost income could be as much as $1,000 monthly.

It is no secret that the current governor and members of the General Assembly do not share the previous administration’s enthusiasm about the overall, long-term value of National Board Certification, so I understand — although I disagree — with their decision to stop providing supplements for future NBC recipients. However, I believe their decision to take away what the state promised to current recipients is a clear breach of contract, and it sends the message to educators that promises are only valid as long as the politicians in power want to honor them. If I were an education major considering changing my course of study from language arts to math or science in order to take advantage of the salary step increase promised by the 2009 General Assembly, I would certainly think twice about the move, since the next administration might determine that “funds are not available.”

It is a sad day when politicians use a poor economy to scuttle a program that a previous administration supported. It is an even sadder day when these politicians — who claim to support “excellence” in education — break a moral commitment to some of our most accomplished teachers.

Allene Magill is executive director of the 75,000-member Professional Association of Georgia Educators.