We oppose the addition of instructional hours to the minimum hours required by the state of New Mexico for primary or secondary education. 

The current budget surplus would be better spent increasing the salaries and number of current teachers, educational assistants, counselors, social workers, bus drivers, security personnel, cafeteria workers, office workers, etc. Schools need to have more electives, smaller class sizes, and safer campuses. We believe that there are a variety of ways to use educational dollars in an effective manner. Adding any amount of time to our instructional hours is not one of them.

These bills will impact many people in our community, especially parents and students. All are welcome to sign!

Reasons:

*More time does not directly translate to better educational outcomes for students.  (cite article from ATF Union News #4) 
*There is already a teacher shortage. This could exacerbate the burnout   teachers currently are facing.
*Taking 2 weeks of the summer break away from teachers is a reduction in an   important benefit.  Paying for the time (especially at a rate that does not keep   up with inflation) does not adequately compensate for the loss.

 

This list below was the rationale for not increasing educators' hours the last time that this issue came up. The overwhelming majority of secondary school communities in Albuquerque Public Schools were not in favor of ELTP. 

Childcare and Quality of Life

Extra work days or work hours mean higher childcare costs, especially for teachers who have young children who would be in school.

Working more hours means spending less time with family.  One of the benefits of teaching (and one of the reasons teachers are willing to take lower salaries than other professions) is time off.

 

Repercussions on Teachers and the Teaching Profession

ELTP will make teaching for APS less attractive than it currently is and could cause a teacher shortage even worse than the one we have now. While an increase in take-home pay might tempt some, teachers are already being asked to do more than there is actually time to do.  More pay does not give teachers more time to complete tasks.

Salary

The State of New Mexico and APS could not even provide a raise that kept up with inflation last year.  Adjusted for inflation and the increases in health care premiums, APS teachers’ real wages declined last year.  The proposed “raise” of 1.5% this year would likely mean another decline in real wages.  The money allocated for this new initiative should be going to educators.

Social Justice

As Dwayne Norris and Ellen Bernstein wrote in the Educators’ Voice (March/April 2021), “The wage gap between men and women, ethnicities and “races” continues to exist and influence economic opportunity across demographics.”  There are more female teachers than male, so requiring teachers to work more hours at the same pay rate simply continues that inequity.

Professional Development

Leaving the additional PD being up to local school control (whether 80 hours or even just 50 extra hours) means a lot more work for the ICs who have to figure out what that PD is going to look like as well as whoever is going to have to develop the PD.  As mentioned earlier, teachers are already facing burnout.

If the additional PD is after school, how does that mesh with auxiliary positions like after-school clubs and coaching in which many teachers are already employed?

If the additional PD does not happen before the additional instructional days, how will those instructional days be anything other than more of the same?

Without significant planning and preparation, the additional PD will probably not be particularly helpful. There is not enough time for APS to plan, prepare and implement that kind of PD.

Implementation

 

Many students already miss the first days or week of school.  If more students do this because they do not want to participate in the extra ten days, it will simply make the critical first weeks of school even more difficult for teachers.

Some students were passed on from 5th to 6th and from 8th to 9th without having met the standards of elementary or middle school, respectively.  So, for example, to provide remediation to 9h graders who did not master the standards of 8th grade, the high school teachers would need skills/knowledge/aptitude more common to middle school teachers.  Furthermore, those students have now spent a year at the high school level with only the support that individual teachers have provided in order to “make it work.”  Dealing with these “gaps” will require far more than ten extra days.