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Cedar Hill Teachers Surprised to Find Annual Raises Absent

October 9, 2005

By HERB BOOTH / The Dallas Morning News

Cedar Hill teachers got an unwanted surprise when they opened up their September paychecks – no raises.

Some teachers say district administrators have practiced subterfuge, or at the very least, haven’t been forthcoming about the absence of any compensation package this year.

“Teachers are paid based on the number of years they’ve been teaching, so every year we have an additional year teaching and we see an increase in pay,” Cedar Hill High School art teacher Barbara Lee said. “We’re not talking about a lot of money here, but you always look forward to that first paycheck of the year. When we got that paycheck in September and found out it was the same amount as last year, it was tough.”

District officials blame the lack of a pay raise on state legislators, whose inability to cope with public school financing left districts funding their own payroll increases.

Cedar Hill schools Superintendent Jim Gibson sent an e-mail to teachers in August notifying them that there would be no salary increases this year.

Other nearby school districts, though, were able to eek out at least some sort of marginal pay raise for employees.

The neighboring DeSoto school district gave its teachers an 8 percent increase off the midpoint salary. It amounted to about a $3,500 annual increase for the average teacher. Duncanville and Lancaster gave 3 percent increases.

Dr. Gibson acknowledged his district is in the minority when holding back salary increases this year. However, he said district staff would approach the school board at its meeting Oct. 17 with a recommendation for a salary increase this year.

“Several things have come together,” said Dr. Gibson, who added CHISD is on a July 1-June 30 fiscal year. “Our final certified values came in, and our attendance has been up.”

Texas public schools receive funding based on their average daily attendance.

Dr. Gibson said the problem with the district’s attendance increase is that much of it is attributable to Hurricane Katrina students.

“We don’t know how long they’re going to be with us,” he said.

Tom Sappington, an English as a second language teacher, said the pay issue has led to a lack of trust.

“They haven’t said, ‘We’re in a tight spot,’ or anything like that,” he said.

Mr. Sappington, Ms. Lee and others also question whether teachers new to the district with the same experience level as continuing teachers are getting paid the same salary.

But Dr. Gibson said the teachers who have continuous service with the district are getting paid slightly more than teachers new to the district with the same experience level.

Dr. Gibson said it wasn’t long ago that Cedar Hill school district had a negative fund balance. The state comptroller’s office did a performance review – which the Legislative Budget Board now handles – in 2002. The agency issued 68 recommendations for the district, including improving the fund balance and addressing a top-heavy staff at the high school.

“Some districts dipped into their reserve fund to pay for salary increases this year,” Dr. Gibson said. “Even without raises, we spent some of our fund balance this year. We’re up against it.”

E-mail hbooth@dallasnews.com

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