Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

AUSTIN - On the last day of the 79th First Called Special Session the House and the Senate prepare to vote on the final conference committee report for H.B. 2, the school finance legislation designed to replace Robin Hood.

"As state lawmakers, our first duty is to educate all our children. HB 2 fails the test," Senator Shapleigh stated in preparation for his "no" vote on the bill.

"In January, leaders pledged to move teachers to the national average in pay with a $5,000 pay raise this year. In H.B. 2 today, that raise is really only $500 in new money. If cuts to teacher retirement are counted, the real raise is $36.66 per month," Senator Shapleigh stated referring to the 2006 teacher pay raise. An analysis of the "$2,000 raise" reveals the following:

$1,000 is actually converting to salary the $1,000 teacher health insurance pass through that teachers were already entitled to -- that is not a real raise.

$500 is an "average" compensation that no individual teacher is guaranteed to receive but rather is based on
performance incentive pay -- that is not a real raise.

$500 is an across the board raise. That is a real raise.

The real raise of $500 for 2006 equals $41.66 a month increase over 12 months. Even this "increase" is offset however by the decrease in retirement benefits passed by the Legislature during the 79th Regular Session. More will be deducted from teachers' paychecks next year than last year to pay for retirement and health benefits or approximately $60 for a teacher making about $40,000 a year. Subtracting another $5 a month brings the raise to $36.66 a month.

"After the massive budget cuts of last session, the promise of 3% ‘new money’ to each district fails to pay for even inflation and new students," Senator Shapleigh continued. "Under HB 2, the gap in resources delivered to the wealthy districts for each student grows an additional $49 per year." For an average elementary school, this amount would equal an additional $36,750 to the already $439,500 more funding an elementary school in a wealthy district received. When multiplied by the number of schools in a district, this funding gap becomes millions of dollars.

"Finally, most importantly, hard fought principles of equity give way to new enrichment dollars so that a wealthy district like Highland Park can raise up to an additional $1,200 more per student each year than El Paso districts," Senator Shapleigh stated.

"What’s worse, the taxes to pay for property tax cuts raise taxes to 94.7% of El Pasoans," Senator Shapleigh continued referring to H.B. 3, the tax legislation that pays for H.B. 2.

"Under HB 2 and 3, nine in ten pay more for less, so one in ten can pay less for more. Texans elected us educate every child and leave no child behind. We can and must do better.”