POLICY HIGHLIGHTER

Volume 14, Number 16-5
July 26, 2004

Marysville Teacher Strike - Lessons Learned, Part V
WEA pressures districts to ignore state salary law
(Part five of a five part series)

The Washington Education Association (WEA) has made a habit of threatening strikes to pressure school districts into finding ways around a state law [RCW 28A.400.200] that prohibits granting annual cost-of-living (COLA) salary increases to teachers at the local level. This is usually accomplished by misusing a provision known as TRI pay (time, responsibility and incentives) to create a substitute for annual salary increases.

TRI pay was introduced in Washington in 1987 with the passage of two laws. The first [RCW 28A.400.200(4)] allows school districts the option of supplementing teachers' base salaries with additional pay for duties completed outside regularly contracted basic instruction hours (i.e. grading papers, developing curriculum, etc.). In granting such contracts, school districts cannot obligate the state in any way for any present or future expenses. The second law [RCW 28A.400.275] limits these supplemental contracts to one year.

Since TRI pay generally takes the form of a set number of paid hours for work completed outside the classroom, using it to replace an annual percentage salary increase often results in exorbitant and unsustainable supplemental contracts. In Marysville, for example, some teachers earned as much as $112.70 an hour to grade papers at home.

Districts that concede to demands for large TRI increases are immediately saddled with a financial burden they cannot economically sustain. This sets them up for bigger problems in the future since the WEA is aware of the impossibility of withdrawing a raise once it has been granted (albeit illegally). When the well runs dry, perpetuation of these contracts (which are often doubly illegal in that they are signed for multiple years) is most often accomplished in the short-term by reducing the district's financial reserves and/or using funds earmarked for curriculum and other academic programs. As students begin to suffer from the poor financial decisions made at the district bargaining table, the pressure shifts to the legislature, where the WEA uses the shortfall as leverage to loudly demand funding increases that will impact the entire state.

Laws establishing and governing TRI pay were intended to aid in education reform efforts by allowing local schools to provide incentives for teachers. Compensating teachers who go above and beyond contractual duties is a sensible policy. Unfortunately, what was once sound policy is now simply another tool for a union that is willing to use it in ways that harm students.

While districts once exercised legitimate oversight of TRI days, teachers who benefit from the pay now do so with little accountability. One of the reasons the WEA's local Marysville affiliate (MEA) went on strike was to prevent school board members from regaining some of this accountability by requiring teachers to report how they used their supplemental pay days.

The MEA was also determined to thwart school board members who sought to end the illegitimate use of TRI pay to provide illegal cost-of-living salary increases. The price of the district's actions was a record-long strike that kept students out of school for nearly two months. This is the price the WEA threatens to force other districts to pay.

Recommendations:
It's time for legislators to step in and end this abuse of state law. Even more important, it's time for legislators to end this abuse of students. In order to restore TRI contracts to their original legislative intent, the legislature should undertake the following actions:

• Clarify the intent of TRI pay.

• Make it mandatory that the state auditor's office review district contracts and ensure TRI pay is being used as intended.

• Remind districts the state will not be held liable for poor fiscal management.

• Clarify the illegality of teacher strikes and define appropriate penalties for offenders.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

RCW 28A.400.200(4):
Salaries and benefits for certificated instructional staff may exceed the limitations in subsection (3) of this section only by separate contract for additional time, responsibilities, or incentives. Supplemental contracts shall not cause the state to incur any present or future funding obligation. Supplemental contracts shall be subject to the collective bargaining provisions of chapter 41.59 RCW and the provisions of RCW 28A.405.240, shall not exceed one year, and if not renewed shall not constitute adverse change in accordance with RCW 28A.405.300 through 28A.405.380. No district may enter into a supplemental contract under this subsection for the provision of services which are a part of the basic education program required by Article IX, section 3 of the state Constitution.

RCW 28A.400.275:
(1) Any contract for employee benefits executed after April 13, 1990, between a local school district and a benefit provider or employee bargaining unit is null and void unless it contains an agreement to abide by state laws relating to school district employee benefits. The term of the contract may not exceed one year.

Lessons of Marysville Series:
Marysville Teacher Strike - Lessons Learned IV
Policy Highlighter | July 19, 2004

Marysville Teacher Strike - Lessons Learned, Part III
Policy Highlighter | July 16, 2004

Marysville Teacher Strike - Lessons Learned, Part II
Policy Highlighter | July 14, 2004

Marysville Teacher Strike - Lessons Learned
Policy Highlighter | July 9, 2004

Prepared by: Evergreen Freedom Foundation | 360-956-3482

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org