Lawrence teachers on Wednesday said they thought there was enough money in the school district’s budget to cover a modest pay raise this year. School board members said there wasn’t.

Negotiations between the two sides ended with an agreement to spend the next three weeks sorting through the discrepancies.

The two groups meet again March 30.

“The money is not there — that’s the problem, that’s the issue,” board member Sue Morgan said.

As proposed, the lump-sum pay raise for this year would be roughly $925 for teachers with one to 14 years experience; $125 for teachers with 14 to 25 years experience. Those with more than 25 years would not see their pay raised.

Al Gyles, a math teacher at Free State and head of the teachers’ negotiations team, said that while the team appreciated the board’s offer, many teachers do not consider the proposed “step” increase to be a pay raise.

“If you spend three, four, or five thousand dollars getting a master’s degree — as you’re expected to do — and then you’re told, ‘OK, here’s another $125 a year,” Gyles said. “That’s not a pay raise.”

Sam Rabiola, an English teacher at Free State, asked board members to add $60,000 to their offer to cover a $300 raise for the 179 teachers with more than 25 years experience.

The sides differ, however, on whether cash is available for anything more.

Morgan challenged the teachers’ claim that a proposed “step increase” — additional pay based on experience and/or postgraduate hours of education — for the district’s 841 teachers this year would cost the district $385,000.

6News video: Negotiators search for middle ground on school salaries Many factors tie up teachers’ pay raise (03-02-05) Teachers’ union criticizes legislative ‘shell game’ (03-01-05) Board offers to increase salaries at a cost of $1 million to district (02-24-05) 6News video: Teacher pay raise negotiations begin (02-23-05) Draft of offer made by board team (Word document)

Earlier, Kathy Johnson, the district’s director of finance had put the figure at $470,000.

Kelly Barker, a social studies teacher at Free State High School, said the lower estimate came from a Kansas National Education Assn. analysis of the district’s budget

KNEA’s analysis, he said, also showed the district gaining an additional $500,000 by June 30, the end of the district’s fiscal year.

Morgan warned the $500,000 is an artificial number because much of it’s already spent.

Last month, board members offered teachers a step increase for both this year and 20005-06. The offer, expected to cost about $1 million, stipulated that:

• If the Legislature increases state aid for schools, most or all of the new money — no one knows how much or how little will reach the district, if any — will be used to finance the raises.
• If the Legislature adjourns without increasing aid, the board will carve the $1 million from its 2005-06 budget.

Teachers on Wednesday said it was critical to split the cost between the two budget years rather than trying to cut the full amount in next year’s budget.

Also, Barker said, teachers need to receive this year’s pay raise this year rather than getting a lump-sum check in August or September.

The district’s teachers, he warned, were on the brink of a “morale breakdown.”