Teacher Step Increase Proposal

 

Faith in the union, get us the raise. Now is the time to show teachers why the union is so very important. 

 I am proposing the union fight for a district wide teacher salary guide step increase of $3,000 across the guide for teachers steps 1-12. 

I will outline all the reasons and back it with evidence throughout this proposal. Unfortunately,  this will ONLY be for the Teacher Guide.

 

New Brunswick Budget before the Phil Murphy adminstration statewide reshuffle was approx. $126 million. After the reshuffle we have a current budget of around $133 million. We have increased $6.4 million of NEW FOUND MONEY.

 

Currently, New Brunswick Harbors about 725 teachers. If we are conservative with our numbers and estimate the number at 730. The increase would roughly cost about..

   730 teachers x $3,000 =  $2.19 Million cost for (teacher salary increase).

We would also have create a safety net fund $1.19 million yearly for the future.

Of the $6.4 Mill I am asking the union fight for  $3.28 Million to be used to give the teachers in this district the pay they DESERVE! This number would be comparable to other higher paying districts but still would not be at the top.

$3.28 million  - $6.4 million leaves New Brunswick STILL with $3.12 million of NEW FOUND MONEY. This is plenty of capital for district wide renovations or other things which may be needed.

 Under the old $126 Million budget all expenses were covered, so there is absolutely no reason a district wide step increase would be anything other than good for the district and community by..

 

1. Restore faith in the union! Now is the best time to show us how hard you fight for us. Show the people you fight hard for us ! We know you can.

2. It will give the teachers the pay we know we deserve while showing the importance of the union.

3. Good for the students and community because it would..
A. Bring in a better pool of candidates therefore improving instruction.
B. Decrease teacher turnove.  It will stop great teachers from leaving for  a “better” or “higher paying” school district.
C. Helps teachers focus more on their careers and not lose time to second jobs.
 

 4. Press. Any press is good press.  When word spreads of a salary increase it will help continue the trend of adding to a better teacher candidacy pool. This would be especially good for Dr. Johnson showing he cares. We know he does care about us and the students. 

 

Now to continue the argument for the increase I am going to outline how long we know we can support the increases for..

 

So we know all increases came under Gov. Murphy.

 

The next contract should be negotiated for 3 years. Gov. Murphy tenure last at minimum 3 years. So we set the the scale for the next 3 years being fully funded under Murphy. We know it will not change for 3 years.

 

Now, if in some insane election Gov. Murphy loses,we have out safety funds to keep us going for at least 1.5 years.

 

The more likely scenario with the raises in place Gov. Murphy can use that to increase votes and voter turnout among teachers and restore faith in the union and he would get re-elected.

 

Since the first contract is for 3 years when he gets elected we would negotiate new contracts very easily for 4 years. That’s 7 years of contracts one revisited after 3 years.

 

Now you add 7 years of savings which would give you after the first 2 contracts of 7 years an additional 3.5 years of funded money for the original teacher step guide raise.

 

Realistically, this plan can be funded  10.5 years . with a worse case scenario of 4.5 years.

 

But the most likely scenario would be funding for 10.5 years MINIMUM.

 

So any argument against the raise is not possible.

 

To sum up, we should ask for a 5k increase per step with the tactic to negotiate down to 3k per step. This would only cost $3.2 million and still leaving an additional  $3.8 million for whatever. It is completely realistic and feasible and needs to be done. Word will spread fast. I have talked it over with many teachers all of which are in favor of the increase.

 

We will NOT settle for...

 

1. ….anything under a 3k teacher guide step increase ($2.19 Million).
2. …...the non-setup of a teacher step increase budget fund as a safety net ($1.9 million)
3. …….an increase in the school day.

 

These are the 3 things that should be negotiated during contract negotiations. All of which will benefit the union, teachers, the district and most importantly the community

 

Any argument that they (the district) have exhausted all 6.4 million for next year is a mismanagement of money and it should be argued and rectified. If by any chance an increase of this magnitude was exhausted already without the thought of a salary increase for teachers. Then the teachers deserve to know and we need to fight for a change. 

We need to be UNITED. We believe the union can do this for us. It can be done and will be done. Show us you are here for us, especially in these very important times. This is exactly what the union needs, what the teachers need and what the administration needs. This is a win win for all parties for now and for the future. 

We have enough programs it’s time for the teachers to get an increase they deserve.

Thank you for taking the time to review my proposal and all of its arguments for the increase. It’s time for all of the hardworking teachers get what they deserve.

 

 

 

 Z