As I mentioned yesterday, it appears that the General
Assembly will adjourn without having completed a budget on March 8th. The last time it happened this way was in
2004.
This may give us an opportunity. New budget bills will be introduced in the
special session. They should reconsider
the shoddy treatment given to teachers in the regular session. Teachers and other school board employees
were the only employee group not targeted to receive a salary increase. The introduced budget from McDonnell has no
teacher salary increase, and here is what the House and Senate did:
Higher Education
Faculty
Senate 1%
Salary + 1% bonus
House Included
in Institution’s budget
State Employees
Senate 1%
COLA (12/1/14)
1%
bonus (12/1/15)
House 2% adjustment for high
turnover positions (12/10/14)
2%
bonus for those not in high turnover positions (7/1/15)
State Supported Local Employees
Senate 1%
COLA (12/1/14)
1%
bonus (12/1/15)
House 2
to 4% additional for certain sheriffs and circuit court staff (1/1/15)
2%
bonus (7/1/15)
Teachers and Support
Personnel
Senate 0%
House 0%
The budget bills in the special session should address this
inequity.