By Davin White - Staff writer
Your proposal is not enough.
Members of the West Virginia Education Association sent that message to Gov. Joe Manchin Monday.
Union officials, teachers and other educators said Manchin's proposed salary increase doesn't make it any easier to work in West Virginia.
"We will remain at '48' based on the amount proposed," said Charlie Delauder, WVEA president, referring to a recent National Education Association report that shows West Virginia ranks 48th in average teacher pay.
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"We feel that the governor's put out a responsible and practical package," she said.
Delauder said the state should be able to promise new teachers the money to support a spouse, family and buy a home.
Sheila Haid, a teacher at Petersburg Elementary in Grant County and a single parent, said she adds small jobs to help support two sons in college.
"I have to do other things to keep teaching," she said.
She tutors, mows lawns and works at athletic events.
Last summer, she worked for the Division of Highways and flagged motorists in construction zones. That job paid more per hour than her teaching job, she said.
"I really don't need a degree ... if I can tell one side says 'stop,' one says 'slow,'" she said.
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Last year, teachers received a 3.5 percent salary increase that many said was too low. That raised the minimum salary for starting teachers to $25,832, up from $25,019.
Delauder wants teacher salaries to start at $35,000. The American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia has asked for a similar amount, a $10,000 raise over the next three years.
WVEA member Thomas Fletcher, who teaches in Berkeley County, regularly sees colleagues leave home for better-paying jobs in Virginia and Maryland.
"I'm a teacher and I realize education is the No. 1 priority in the state," he said. "If we say it, then we've got to live it, and we're not living it right now."
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Also Monday, Delauder and others pushed to allow teachers in a newer retirement system the one-time option of jumping into the older, defined-benefit plan.
Delauder and Adkins said in years past, school employees were given misinformation and encouraged to enroll in the defined-contribution plan. Fletcher said the older system is more secure. Yet for state lawmakers, it's become an unfunded liability that demands tens of millions of dollars each year.
Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court of Appeals declined to consider, by a 3-2 vote, a case regarding the state's bid to merge the two pension programs. Now, the AFT, WVEA and state service personnel association want the Legislature to act.
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She expects Manchin to work with union representatives and consider the best way to tackle the problem without turning the state's finances "upside-down."
