How Much Was Your Raise?

Few employees are getting raises during this economic downturn.  In fact most employees are just thankful they have a job, as just about one in 10 Idahoans are unemployed.  Further, most employees are taking some type of “hit” either in a reduction in salary or some type of fringe benefit reduction.  But that is not the case with ALL employees.

In fact the opposite is true in the public sector. More than 7,400 Idaho school teachers and 384 school administrators did receive raises.  They received collectively $22 million in salary increases for the 2009-2010 school year.  Hard to believe, but true.  Here in Canyon County there was no fiscal discipline exhibited.  Nampa School District provided average salary increases of $3,501 to 136 employees. In Caldwell, 114 employees received an average increase of $2,509. In Vallivue, 290 employees received increases averaging $1,731 each.  How do school districts justify that to some of their patrons who just lost their job? 

That $22 million, coincidentally, is equal to the amount of emergency funding the Land Board voted last month to funnel to schools to offset the pain of budget cuts.  Now, the money is just being used to reward schools for bad fiscal planning. What districts should have done is set aside money for the next school year, to save teaching positions, teacher aide positions, and other important functions directly related to students.  Now, with a continuing economic downturn and an expected shortfall in the millions of dollars, you can be sure of one thing: The education establishment will be crying loudly for a tax increase next year to make up for the  lack of fiscal responsibility.  

Next school year, school administrators will complain they don’t have the money to give students a good education. And looking ahead to the 2011 legislative session, there will be a huge revenue shortfall and there will be all sorts of proposals to raise taxes presented. If either happens, school districts that managed to spend $22 million on raises during an economic downturn will only have themselves to blame.