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          Front Page  opinion  guest_columns

Saturday, June 07, 2008

School Aides Still Need Raise

By Kathy Chavez
President, Albuquerque Educational Assistants Association
      The Journal's editorial about the raises sought by the Albuquerque Educational Assistants Association is correct is saying that pressure for our raise should be applied to the Legislature.
    We asked our lawmakers to fund this raise during the 2007-'08 legislative session. Rep. Rick Miera, chairman of the House Education Committee, listened. He tried to pass a bill that would have provided money for our raise. House Appropriations Chairman Kiki Saavedra listened, but agreed to approve only an additional 1 percent — about 10 cents an hour.
    We didn't give up. After the legislative session, we held town halls in the South and North Valleys and asked legislators what to do next. They told us to ask the school board to invest some district money in EAs. That's what we've done.
    APS can find 60-70 cents, and add it to what legislators provided for an average $1 per hour raise. How do we know this? Because, the district's financial managers reallocated the $700 million APS budget twice now, and each time the adjustments have provided more than enough money to meet our demands.
    We have recommendations about how to pay for the 60-70 cents going forward: The school board and Legislature will need to work with us to resolve the problem of poverty-level wages for educational assistants.
    During the May 21 school board meeting Miera told the board that he would work to get more money for APS, and Sen. Gerald Ortiz Y Pino told board members if the district found the money to pay our raise this year, he would take the lead in the '09 Legislature and get the money for APS. We support that approach because we believe it's reasonable and doable. District budget managers and legislators have cooperated on employee raises before. When teachers, principals, administrators and police asked for raises that were more than the Legislature provided, the district found a way.
    It's critical that the public, APS board, district budget managers, as well as legislators understand EAs won't yield on this raise. We're trying to support ourselves, clothe our kids, and pay higher prices for less food and gasoline. These cuts are impossible for EAs who are paid $10.14 to $13.57 an hour, 6.5 hours a day, 182 days a year.
   

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