OK of Budget Gives Teachers 6.4% Raise : Lagging Test Results Put Damper on Enthusiasm for New Programs

A $575-million budget, which includes a 6.4% increase in teacher salaries and new money for programs to improve achievement by black males and stem high-school dropouts, was approved Tuesday by the San Diego city schools’ Board of Education for fiscal year 1989-90.

But the board’s pleasure in achieving labor peace with its major unions and establishing new initiatives was tempered by the sobering results of standardized tests given last spring, which show both general student achievement leveling off and the gap widening between whites and Asians on the one hand, and blacks and Latinos on the other.

A crowded agenda the week before traditional schools open next Monday also saw board adoption of the term “African American” to describe black students and approval for the San Carlos community around Patrick Henry High School to study whether students should be prohibited from leaving the campus during the school day.

Final Budget Is Up 9.5%

The final budget represents about a 9.5% increase from the previous year. The total includes $535 million in general state revenues approved by the Legislature, as well as $39 million in state and federal funds restricted for areas such as remedial education, vocational training, and health and drug-prevention efforts.

The district’s 6,200 classroom teachers and 450 administrators will receive a 6.4% raise, the result of negotiations by joint committees set up last year as part of a three-year contract intended to avoid labor disruptions. A basic 5.58% salary increase required under the contract was augmented as a result of additional money from the state. A beginning teacher will now receive $23,832, with the maximum rising to $46,021. About 3,400 non-classroom personnel will receive a 6.5% increase. About $31.7 million of the budget’s $45-million increase will be used to cover raises.

The district will also hire 70 new teaching specialists in elementary music, art and physical education, whose time in the classroom will free up at least an hour a week for regular elementary teachers to prepare curriculum. That time has long been requested by elementary teachers because their heavy workload requires them to prepare class lessons after school or at home.

More on Test Results

But the good news about the budget was soon overshadowed Tuesday by the latest test results on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS), first reported last week.

Although district administrators led by Payzant dislike placing too much emphasis on standardized tests because they only measure part of a total curriculum, board members Tuesday said the results, particularly in reading, are mediocre or worse and require more attention from teachers and principals.

Board Vice President Jim Roache was bothered both by the lack of gains across the district and the continuing gap in achievement between ethnic groups.

“I don’t see what is happening as positive by any stretch of the imagination,” Roache said. Roache conceded that the district has put into effect a plethora of new programs, ranging from the common core curriculum in secondary schools to a program to improve Latino reading skills to an overhaul of reading, including texts and the way reading is taught in elementary schools.

“I know we haven’t had a chance yet to see if they will bear fruit, but I’m not happy, and our community should not be happy,” Roache said.

Colleague Shirley Weber said that, although the tests are imperfect, she believes they do measure basic skills. And the results show that whites and Asians are picking up on those skills to a far greater degree than blacks and Latinos, she noted.

Effects of Crowding?

Weber asked whether crowding at many schools with minority populations is affecting achievement, a question that upcoming district evaluations will attempt to answer.

Additional comments from Payzant and other board members showed the uncertainty over c,12p0

how to explain the results and how to address them.

Payzant said the district’s goal should not be simply to increase the scores because to do so would ignore other educational goals. Trustee Kay Davis asked whether the high mobility and poor socioeconomics in some neighborhoods may explain more of the problem than poor teaching or disinterested parents.

But the bottom line for teachers and principals was a warning from Roache to Payzant: “We see the same schools, the same kids, in the same spot year after year, and we can’t continue to allow this to happen.”