15 years !
1865 2015
years !
Published by the TENNESSEE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION August 2015 Vol. 47, No. 1 www.teateachers.org
State passes 4%, yet average raise may be less than 2%
Less pressure from state generates less local dollars, conferencing locals fairing better
to local flexibility with regard to state education funding is once again proving that what is said in Nashville rarely becomes reality back home, especially when it comes to a teacher’s paycheck.
After months of hearing from the governor, legislators, and the media about how they can expect an extra 4 percent raise in their pay, countless teachers across the state are bracing for another letdown. It seems that the administration’s commitment
SALARIES go to page 3
Insurance costs remain stable, TEA fights increases to educators For most teachers operating within constrained family budgets, there wasn’t really a decision to make. A look at the state’s open enrollment figures bears this out. There was more than a 20 percent drop from 2014 to 2015 in enrollments in the plan with the lowest out-ofpocket
costs, while at the same time seeing a 450 percent increase in enrollment in the Limited plan with much higher out-of-pocket costs. So why would school boards change their contributions so dramatically, causing
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Last fall, thousands of teachers across the state were faced with an unexpected and difficult decision: stay on the insurance plan they had selected as best meeting their needs and pay huge increases in their share of the premium, or enroll in a less expensive plan with higher out-ofpocket costs.
Unneeded cuts! With costs remaining flat, there is no reason to cut employer contribution to insurance.
INSURANCE go to page 12
TEA leads fight against TVAAS Discrediting – and ultimately eliminating – any use of TVAAS estimates continues to be one of TEA’s top priorities. Together, we got legislation passed to prohibit the use of TVAAS in teacher licensure decisions; we put enough pressure on the administration to get the weight of TVAAS in teacher evaluations reduced significantly for teachers in non-tested subjects; a TEA-backed proposal made it illegal for observation scores be correlated to a teacher’s TVAAS estimate; and TEA filed TVAAS UPDATE go to page 4
Rules protecting students with special ed vouchers being developed Back in February when it was first proposed in the General Assembly, the Individualized Education Act could have wreaked havoc on special education across the state. It would have provided cash money to families of students with IEP, so long as they withdrew their child from public school. It was a recipe for funding homeschooling. It was a path to rampant fraud as seen in Florida. It incentivized bad behavior and would put thousands of special needs students in academic and SPECIAL ED go to page 10