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State's math affects raises, official says

In a memo, the schools' chief financial officer says Hernando shouldn't be expected to match raises in neighboring districts that receive more state money.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published November 27, 2005

BROOKSVILLE - Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is just around the corner, but the county's teachers are still working without a new contract.

Teachers have dismissed the district's offer of a 4 percent pay raise as well as claims that the district cannot do more because of other state mandates. They want to know why Hernando cannot offer more money, like counties such as Pasco, which gave teachers a 7 percent overall increase in August.

An Oct. 19 memorandum written by Deborah Bruggink, the district's chief financial officer, may offer some answers.

In the memo, Bruggink addresses the teachers' criticism by highlighting a little-known fact: A complex state formula that helps determine the amount of money local school districts get penalizes Hernando far worse than it does Pasco and Citrus.

According to Bruggink's memorandum, the state formula gives Pasco $335 more per student and Citrus $258 more per student than it does Hernando.

The formula takes into account factors such as high-performing schools, cost of living and the number of students classified as exceptional student education. For a variety of reasons, Hernando comes up short when the state does its math, Bruggink said.

"To look at other districts and conclude that Hernando should be able to offer the same percentage salary increases is inappropriate," Bruggink wrote in the memorandum to School Board members and superintendent Wendy Tellone.

Teachers union officials acknowledge the disparities in school funding.

"We are underfunded by the state. It's not equitable, and it's not equal," said Brian Phillips, president of the Hernando Classroom Teachers Association.

But the teachers say the school district's proposed 4 percent raise would do little to help cash-strapped educators who ranked 60th in the state in average salary last school year. That's just seven spots from the bottom, and far worse than Pasco and Citrus.

Phillips added that he and other union officials still believe the district has the resources to offer more than a 4 percent raise. "We've made our position pretty clear," he said.

But School Board members, who have been bombarded with letters from angry teachers, say Bruggink's memorandum makes clear that the state carries a large share of the blame for low teacher salaries in Hernando.

"There's more out there than the letters we've been receiving from the teachers (claim)," said School Board member John Druzbick. "The state isn't funding us like it should."

Much of the money local school districts get from the state comes through a formula called the Florida Education Finance Program. In an interview, Bruggink explained how many of the variables in the formula work against Hernando. She also said larger school districts such as Miami-Dade hire lobbyists to tweak the factors in their favor. That's a luxury Hernando officials cannot afford.

One factor that especially hurts Hernando, Bruggink said, is that the state considers Pasco to have a higher cost of living than Hernando. That calculation alone gives Pasco $76.35 more per student in state money than Hernando.

Local teachers say they understand the pressures and the fickleness of state funding. Still, Phillips has noted that he is not asking the district to spend any more on salaries than it has already budgeted.

Phillips says district officials can spend a total of $61.7-million on salaries and give all teachers a decent across-the-board raise of $950 a year. According to Phillips, the district would save $5-million on salaries overall if it adopted the union's proposal and eliminated waste in other areas.

The district's proposal would raise all teacher salaries by about $910 a year.

The teachers have declared an impasse in negotiations with the district, but both sides have agreed to return to the bargaining table, with the assistance of a facilitator, on Dec. 6.

The two sides say they have to work together since the state isn't going to offer much more help.

Abhi Raghunathan can be reached at araghunathan@sptimes.com or 352 848-1431.

[Last modified November 27, 2005, 01:18:21]