Greener pastures.

That’s where some Lawrence public school teachers have been going.

“I absolutely loved teaching in Lawrence. I did not leave unhappy, but I’m 59 and there was no way I could retire at 65 on what I was making. I had to leave,” said Keith Gilliland, a math teacher at West Junior High for 35 years.

Gilliland accepted a teaching position in Tonganoxie last year.

“I’m making considerably more money now,” he said. “Eighteen percent more.”

Dave West, 36, taught film and broadcasting at Free State High School five years before taking a similar position in Pennsylvania with a suburban school district outside Pittsburgh.

“I doubled my salary,” West said, “and the cost of living here is about the same — maybe a little less — than it is in Lawrence.”

West said he, too, felt forced to leave Lawrence.

“My wife and I love Lawrence. Given a choice, we never would have left,” he said. “But I was working two other jobs just to make ends meet. I cleaned a couple offices at night and on the weekends. I delivered pizzas. We still weren’t making it.”

Free State High School teacher Al Gyles, center, helps Rebecca Weinaug, left, and Ithar Hassaballa, right, with polynomial factoring during an Algebra II class on Friday. Gyles is the chairman of negotiators for the Lawrence Education Assn.

Given the school district’s budget situation, this exodus of teachers is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Kansas Association of School Boards records show Lawrence is one of only nine Kansas school districts that have not settled salary negotiations with their teachers.

Records also show that teachers in 282 of the state’s 301 districts last year received, on average, a 3 percent increase in compensation. Lawrence teachers were among those who got no increase in pay.

Lawrence teachers’ last pay raise — 3.5 percent — took effect in September 2003.

Trying to cope

In the past three years, USD 497 has cut programs and left more than 70 teaching positions vacant to free up money for raises.

“It’s been an excruciating, gut-wrenching process,” said Mary Rodriguez, head of the school district’s negotiation team.

Last year, the district’s teachers agreed to postpone salary negotiations, hoping the Legislature would be quick to increase funding for schools.

But as yet, there’s been no increase. And many policymakers are predicting little or no increase for schools again this year, despite a state Supreme Court decision ordering the Legislature to fix the state’s school finance formula.

“I don’t see anything like that happening in ’05, the fiscal year we’re in now,” said Rep. Paul Davis, D-Lawrence. “If there’s going to be any new money, it won’t be until ’06.”

The 2006 budget year begins July 1.

“We’re disappointed in the Legislature,” said Lawrence Education Assn. president Sam Rabiola. “They’ve shirked their obligations.”

Looking for money

With nowhere else to turn, LEA leaders have begun picking apart the school district’s $52 million general fund budget, looking for ways to free up $500,000 to $600,000 for a modest — roughly 1.5 percent — pay raise.

Whether the search will lead to cuts in current spending for other district programs remains to be seen.

“We’re still in the information-gathering stage,” Rabiola said. “We think there may be some money there, but we’re not in a position to say how much. There are a lot of numbers to sort through.”

USD 497 Supt. Randy Weseman said he doubted there was anywhere near that much money still in the budget.

“To carve that much out of the budget three-fourths into the school year — the chances for that happening are pretty remote,” Weseman said. “We’ve never had that much left over before. Never.”

Still, Weseman said he’s not opposed to looking for more money for the district’s 850 teachers.

“We don’t pay our teachers enough,” he said.

Since the 1999-2000 school year, USD 497 has struggled with enrollment declines due in part to increases in home, private and parochial schools. And for the past four years, state aid has not increased.

“It’s been a double whammy for the district,” Rabiola said. “We know that.”

Despite this understanding, Al Gyles, a math teacher at Free State High School and LEA’s lead negotiator, said teachers were becoming increasingly frustrated.

“There’s some anger out there,” Gyles said. “For a lot of people it’s come down to two options: either move to a different district and make more money, or, if you haven’t been in the game long, find a different game.”

District studies have shown that Lawrence teachers can commute to schools in Johnson County and make several thousand dollars more a year.

The starting salary for a first-year teacher in Lawrence: $26,825. Starting salaries in nearby districts are between $2,915 (Eudora) and $4,952 (Shawnee Mission) higher.

Veteran teachers have the option of retiring, collecting a pension, and going to work for another district.

That’s what Gilliland did.

“A lot people have,” he said. “I have a number of retired-teacher friends who still live in Lawrence and commute to (teaching) jobs in Missouri because over there it only takes five years to be vested in the retirement system.”

It takes 10 years in Kansas.

Gilliland said he’s counseled his former co-workers against being angry with the administration or with the school board.

“It’s the Legislature that made this mess,” he said. “They won’t do what needs to be done.”