Dec 16, 2008 7:56 am US/Eastern
Day 2: Teachers Battle For Promised Pay Raises
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Teachers wearing red shirts listen as lawyer for their union and from the school district argue over promised raises.
CBS
The United Teachers of Dade are meeting for a second day Tuesday to discuss promised pay raises which they have not received.
The teachers are asking for $45 million worth of raises, which were supposed to begin in July. However, the Miami-Dade County School District cut the raises from the budget as the school board tried to dig the district out of a $250-million dollar budget deficit. The school district says it simply cannot afford to give teachers a raise due to the shrinking budget.
A Special Magistrate is presiding over the hearing, which is taking place at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Down Miami.
Teachers are angry that they have not received their raises. But the school district says they're suffering, with a deficit of hundreds of thousands of dollars. "It's not a question we don't want to," explained Miami-Dade School District C.F.O. Richard Hinds, "It's a question of we really don't have the money. We didn't have the time of budget adoption and since then our financial situation has continued to deteriorate."
The school district says they're losing around $100 million in state funding. The embattled raises would equal just below half that, at around $45 million.
It's an argument that falls on deaf ears for teachers like Mari Corugedo, who uses at least $15-hundred of her own money yearly to purchase school supplies. Corugedo makes around $50 thousand a year as one of the highest paid teachers, because of her 16-year tenure with the district and master's degree. Most starting teachers make just $38 thousand. A contract between the union and the district was supposed to boost that to $40 thousand yearly.
The teachers union hopes the Special Magistrate will rule in their favor over the promised pay raises. The Magistrate is hearing from attorneys from both the UTD and School Board before making any recommendation.
Ultimately, the Special Magistrate will have the final decision on what to recommend to the School District. However, the school board has the option to reject whatever decision the Magistrate makes.
Teachers have been waiting for a resolution ever since former Superintendant Rudy Crew said the district did not have the $72 million needed to award the raises due to state budget cuts.
Come next week, a new battle will begin as the school board delves into the issue of health insurance.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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