Some Unlucky Teachers Hit Twice In Governor’s Budget

CARSON CITY – Teachers who are pursuing a master’s degree will not receive any extra pay for it under Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposed budget.
Those currently enrolled teachers may have entered their programs envisioning a pay bump upon graduation. But they made a bet, and the governor’s proposed budget would leave them on the losing side of what has long been regarded as a safe gamble.
Sandoval has already proposed withdrawing $141 million from his budget to pay automatic increases for how long teachers have worked and how many degrees they have attained. The Sandoval administration is characterizing it as a pay freeze.
If the Legislature approves the governor’s proposal, teachers who want to later pursue a degree would know upon enrolling that they would not necessarily get a pay increase for obtaining a degree. Teachers who already have degrees would not lose a pay increase they earned earlier.
Teachers currently pursuing a degree are caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
They enrolled under the assumption that they would receive an automatic pay increase upon graduation.
Instead, Sandoval’s plan involves all teachers competing for a $20 million pot of money that is set aside for performance pay.
Some legislators have taken exception to this amount, saying it is a pittance compared to the $141 million the governor has shoved out of his budget.
“The proposals, as we’ve seen them, now add up to a dismantling of the current pay system without a replacement mechanism,” said David Bobzien, D-Reno, chairman of the Assembly’s education committee.
That their master’s degrees might better position them to snatch a chunk of that performance pay is no consolation to Christine Cheney, the dean of the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Reno.
“I think it’s a very shortsighted policy,” Cheney said. “It’s sort of a game changer… for teachers who are almost there … they have invested both time and money.”
She said she supports merit pay, but only if there is a system to measure performance of all teachers, not just those whose performance can be measured by the results of a standardized test.
“When you’re a teacher for social studies, special education or art, how are you evaluated?” she asked.
The education colleges at UNR and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, currently have several thousand students enrolled in their master’s and doctoral programs, according to estimates provided from officials at both universities.
Not all of them are current teachers pursuing advanced degrees. Some are trying to become principals and others are working toward earning teacher licenses for the first time.
The UNR College of Education graduates about 30 or 40 students from its masters and doctorate programs per year. Some of those programs take five or more years to complete.
Sandoval has argued for decoupling degree attainment with automatic pay increases, citing studies that prove additional degrees do not enhance performance in the classroom.
Although officials from the Department of Administration have confirmed that teachers currently enrolled in degree programs would not be eligible for automatic pay increases, legislative employees are still drafting the exact bill language.
“School districts have asked us to consider these proposals and we’re looking forward to continued discussions as bills are drafted,” wrote Mary-Sarah Kinner, the governor’s spokeswoman, in an e-mail.
The Legislature still has to approve or alter the governor’s budget. The final budget is also only a recommendation from the state. Local school districts still have to bargain with teachers.
Sandoval has asked teachers to take a 5 percent pay cut and pay more into their retirement plans.
Local districts would have to bargain these terms as well as ask that teachers forfeit any pay increases for how many years they have worked and the degrees they have earned.