President Dooher responds to governor's remarks on teacher contracts

It is wrong to make school employees the scapegoat for problems Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other state leaders created.

The governor seems to be trying to divert attention from his failed policies and his unwillingness to fund schools properly. His approach clearly isn’t working: class sizes are going up, programs are being cut and good teachers and other educators are leaving the profession.

In the vast majority of contract settlements, teachers are treading water at best. Many teachers are taking home the same amount of money or even less money because of huge increases in health insurance costs that districts are passing along to employees.

The average salary increase statewide is 1.1 percent the first year and 1.3 percent the second year. The fact that some districts can afford to give a small increase while others can’t only demonstrates the inequity in the state’s education finance system.

December 02, 2009