Poll: Don’t give raises to Hub’s unwanted teachers
The School Committee is preparing to vote on a contract that gives unwanted teachers a 5 percent raise while 50 percent of city residents think those educators should make less money, according to a recent poll.
Under the proposed deal — which has Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s backing and is expected to be approved by the School Committee next week — teachers would see a retroactive 2 percent pay bump followed by a 3 percent increase this year. The average teacher salary is $90,467.
That raise would also apply to 77 teachers who are currently in the “excess pool” — educators who lost their positions because of poor performance or job cuts, or who principals don’t want to hire — now working as co-teachers or in other positions.
Those teachers receive 100 percent of their salary while in the excess pool, and under the proposed raises, 77 teachers making the average BPS salary would receive $7.3 million with the raises. But while that has been a contentious issue between BPS officials and union leaders, they shelved it during recent negotiations with the promise to take it up again if the proposed contract is passed.
The pro-charter school group Democrats For Education Reform released a poll commissioned in May that found a majority of those surveyed believe the city shouldn’t pay full salaries of unwanted teachers. The poll, run by Public Policy Polling, surveyed 561 Boston residents, threequarters of whom did not have students in BPS.
Almost half of those surveyed said unwanted teachers should not get full salaries, and that number jumped to 57 percent when respondents were told the average teacher salary was more than $90,000. Twenty-four percent said unwanted teachers should get full salaries while 19 percent were unsure.
Sam Tyler of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau told the School Committee last night the new contract lacks “bold reform” and that they need to be tougher on the next one. He told the Herald later the poll backs up drawing a line in the sand.
“Parents are basically in sync with what the administration position has been but there has been no resolution, and there should be,” Tyler said after the meeting.
DFER’s Liam Kerr said the poll results show residents want the union to cede on unwanted teacher pay.
“When presented with the facts, voters agree with the district that we should invest in programs that directly affect kids,” Kerr said.
But Boston Teacher Union president Jessica Tang slammed the poll as “flawed and invalid.”
“It is dated, it’s based on inaccurate numbers, it misrepresents the situation and tries to pit the public against experienced and committed BPS teachers.”