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Jul 8, 2008 10:53 am US/Central
School Districts Must Pay For Teacher Raises
AUSTIN (AP) ―
Texas school districts will have to pay $100 million in teacher benefits stemming from a two-year-old state-mandated payraise, Attorney General Greg Abbott has ruled.
The opinion ends a battle between the state and school districts over who should be on the hook for the required contributions to the teacher pension fund based on the $2,500 pay raise that teachers, librarians and counselors were given in the 2006-07 school year.
Abbott's Thursday ruling means that school districts have to pay 6.58 percent of each teacher's pay hike, about $100 million a year, because of the state-mandated raise.
David Thompson, a Houston lawyer who represents dozens of school districts, said Monday that the attorney general issued an erroneous opinion "that was designed to reach a particular result" favorable to the state.
"We believe the law is very clear that the state must pay the Teacher Retirement System on behalf of all school districts an amount based on the minimum salary required by state law," he said, citing the $2,500 pay raise as a requirement of the 2006 school finance law approved by the Legislature.
Thompson, who represented a group of school districts that successfully sued the state over its school finance law several years ago, said his clients are considering a response to the opinion.
In his opinion, the attorney general said the required state contribution to the pension fund "does not include" the salary increase approved by lawmakers.
Currently, the state contributes 6.58 percent of each teacher's salary to the retirement system, but the percentage is based on the minimum salary for all teachers, which is $27,320.
When teachers are paid more than the state minimum, as they are in most districts, the district must pay the retirement contribution on the amount above the state minimum.
The debate centers on whether the $2,500 raise funded by the Legislature should be included in the minimum salary or be considered a supplement to the minimum salary.
Abbott's office determined that the state minimum salary was not increased because school districts had some discretion in paying the raises.
Thompson said the contribution increase would be particularly hard for districts since the school finance law had sharply curtailed their revenue-raising options.
"Our districts strongly support raises for teachers and other professional employees, but we believe the state should make TRS contributions for its own requirements and not shift those costs to local districts," he said.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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