Rob Eissler's Ideological Crusade - HB8

The Spawn of HB 400—New Attack on Salary Guarantees, Contract Rights is in SB 8, and Rep. Rob Eissler Is Determined to See It Through
 
The Spawn of HB 400—Attack on Salary Standards, Contract Rights Returns in SB 8:  State Rep. Rob Eissler, Republican of The Woodlands, is at it again, resurrecting his failed attack on educators’ salary standards and contract rights in a committee substitute for Senate Bill 8. Eissler’s new version of SB 8 recombines and tweaks elements he had included in his failed HB 400 during the regular session and that he has parceled out into five separate bills (HB 17 through HB 21) in the special session. Eissler postponed action on two of these piecemeal bills Tuesday, and--for reasons best known to him—he now wants to force the Texas House to vote again, as early as Thursday, on the following menu of bad ideas in his committee substitute for SB 8:


--The deadline for notice of proposed non-renewal would be the last day of state achievement testing in the spring—much later than the current 45 days before the last day of instruction.

--Independent, impartial hearing examiners would be eliminated for mid-year contract terminations based on a financial exigency. District would have complete discretion to define and declare financial exigency at any time and thereby conveniently downgrade teachers’ due-process rights.

--Non-renewal hearings, whether based on financial exigency or not, could be delegated in any district with more than 5,000 students to an attorney designated by the board, under rules that fail to ensure due process.

--The last vestige in state law of seniority-based protection for experienced teachers with continuing contracts would be repealed.

--Protection against rollback of state pay raises would be repealed.

--The minimum salary schedule for teachers and other educators would be frozen, and Eissler’s SB 8 also eliminates the salary escalator that raises the minimum when state school aid increases. The commissioner of education would recommend a new method of determining teacher salaries by January 2013.

--Unpaid furloughs of up to six days (average pay cut to teachers:  -$1,560) would be at the discretion of the school board, as long as funding falls below the 2010-2011 level. On top of that, other salary reductions also would be authorized, with no dollar limit, and the authority would be permanent, regardless of restored funding. The furlough option or other salary-reduction option would have to be discussed in a public hearing, but the school board would retain total discretion to implement the pay cuts regardless of employee or community concerns.