Which Side Are You On?

The old union song asks the question, "which side are you on." We need to remind Senators, especially members of the Senate Public Affairs Committee to be on the side of school and other public employees as negotiations over a final version of Senate Bill 46, the Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act was go down to the wire.  The legislation is sponsored by Senate President pro temp Richard Romero and co-sponsored by Democratic Floor Leader Manny Aragon.  Senator  Romero has asked labor and management lobbyists to try to reach consensus on some divisive issues.  This approach is alright for the moment, however, Senator  Romero and all other Senators need to be reminded to support school employees on the important issues of:
 
(1) forcing local board policies adopted since 1991 to comply with the new law; 
(2)adopting a scope of bargaining that forces school management to talk about professional and classroom concerns; and 
(3)a impasse resolution procedure that ends in final binding arbitration.
  
These three issues are the heart of the labor supported consensus legislation, although it needs a technical amendment to make it track with house version to be introduced by Speaker Lujan later this week.   Requests by public employers to talk about the bill have apparently slowed its progress!  Call all Senators and ask them to support public employee collective bargaining. The legislation is sponsored by Senate President pro temp Richard Romero and co-sponsored by Democratic Floor Leader Manny Aragon.  The legislation's first stop will be in Senate Public Affairs Committee, probably not before next Tuesday.  Call members of this committee and ask for their support for the labor consensus version of the bill.  Ask them to resist management inspired amendments, not accepted by a labor consensus!

Governor Richardson has created a work team with NEA-NM membership to work on differences in his budget proposals and education reform.  The team meets for the first time on January 29.  Publicly,  he continues his demand that school districts use 5% of administration for direct instruction, especially teacher salaries.  However, his office is discussing the ramifications with various education groups, including NEA-NM.  He called for moving to the average regional teacher salary next year with a 6% teacher salary increase.  As we move into the 2003 legislative session, we applaud Governor Richardson for making teacher salaries a priority.  We applaud his initiative to force a critical look at school district cash balances.  However,   we need to emphasize to the governor and legislators that we need equitable salaries for all education  employees.  

We are mindful that there are three other budget proposals: the state board of education's (SBE), the Legislative Finance Committee's (LFC), and the Legislative Education Study Committee's (LESC).  

Each of the four budget proposals has strengths and drawbacks.  The LESC proposes funding the three-tiered teacher licensing program proposed in the reform bill of 2001 and giving all employees a five per cent salary increase, raising school funding some 168 million dollars.  The LFC proposes funding the first year of the new licensure system, providing a 2.5% raise for teachers and a 2% raise for other employees, and about 60 million new dollars.  The SBE proposes a 5.5% salary increase for all employees and about a 198 million dollar increase.  The governor proposes redirecting some current dollars, a 6% salary increase for teachers, the use of cash balances to find money for other employee raises and about 40 million new dollars.

Also the LESC's ad hoc Task Force is proposing reform legislation similar to that vetoed by Gary Johnson in 2001.  This legislation would set minimum salary levels for teachers based on their level of New Mexico teaching license.  Level I minimums would immediately rise to $30,000 this year with a 2.5% increase in teacher salary schedules for a total cost of a 28.25 million dollars.  Level two minimums would become $40,000 and level III minimums would become $50,000 in steps over the next five years.   The reform committee only addressed  teacher salaries.  The LESC recommends a 5% salary increase for other employees.

We believe that the give and take of a legislative session will eventually produce a budget for the state and public schools.  We will advocate for all of our legislative priorities as this process unfolds.  Those priorities include equitable salaries for all education employees and the right of all employees to bargain collectively with their employers.  Now is not the time to attack any of the budget proposals!  We must await details of all of them and then use the legislative process to produce the best compromise.  

Our message to legislators should be:

The Governor has made schools a priority.  We need to go further and add additional revenues to school funding to provide equitable salaries for all employees.  We need to use this legislative session to explore addition long-term revenue streams for public schools.

Don't forget these this important event:

House Education Committee Hearing on February 8