Page 11 - CCEA 2017 Legislative Report

SB547: Salary Incentive for Professional Growth

CCEA Priority & Principle Architect: Died in the Assembly Ways & Means Committee

Sponsor: Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford

What the Bill Does:

• CCEA never gave up on efforts to have legislation introduced that would create a groundbreaking
dedicated funding stream for salary advancement. Our efforts were unprecedented. Nowhere in the
country has a teacher organization come as close as we did to secure legislation guaranteeing to pay
educators as professionals.

• After Senate Majority Leader Ford agreed to sponsor the emergency bill, with only days remaining in
the session, SB547 was introduced. Specifically, this legislation would have required CCSD to reserve
money to pay for column movements once educators have completed their PGP. CCEA had
comprehensive discussions with the Legislative Council Bureau on the bill language. The bill required
extensive legal vetting before the language was accepted.

• Despite sailing through the Senate with a 20-1 bipartisan vote, mounting pressure, and thousands of
emails sent by educators, this bill did not receive a hearing in the Assembly Ways and Means
Committee. This was a decision made by Democrats. CCEA is in discussion with them over their
inaction.

• NSEA didn’t support this bill. ESEA, the support staff union who represents 30% of its bargaining unit,
testified in opposition to the bill.

*SB 547, Salary Incentive for Professional Growth Bill*

CCEA led the effort to pass legislation that would have required CCSD to reserve money to pay for column
movements once educators completed their PGP. From the outset, the Superintendent and Board of Trustees
vigorously opposed our legislation.

The bill moved through the Senate with bipartisan support. CCEA members sent over 15,000 emails to
legislators asking for support on this bill. It is important to note that NSEA did not support SB 547, and ESEA
(support staff) actively opposed this bill. After passing the Senate, the bill was assigned to the Ways and
Means Committee. However, the bill was not given a committee hearing by Committee Chair Carlton, a
Democrat. The CCEA Executive Board will be looking into why Maggie Carlton, a CCEA endorsed candidate
and self-proclaimed advocate for teachers, refused to grant a hearing on this bill despite the overwhelming
bipartisan support it received in the Senate.

Despite this setback, we will work to resolve this issue at the local level. CCEA currently has an Unfair Labor
Practice filed against CCSD for their unilateral change to the Professional Growth System. The hearing has been
scheduled for July 22nd before the Employee-Management Relations Board. Stay tuned for more information.

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