No SC teacher pay raise, one-time bonus for state workers this year. Here’s why
Efforts to give teachers pay raises and some state employees hazard pay are likely dead this year, after House members sent the state budget back to committee for review.
The legislative session ends at 5 p.m. Thursday, when all pending legislation dies, and the state budget-writing Ways and Means Committee has no meetings scheduled this week.
The Senate’s spending plan, adopted last week and sent over to the House, includes step increases for teachers, which they receive for each year of experience they have on the job.
About 14,000 state workers earning less than $50,000 a year would receive $1,000 in one-time hazard pay for physically coming into work during the pandemic under the Senate plan.
Senators also included money for prison safety upgrades and school nurses among other state spending priorities.
Teachers groups were disappointed in the move Tuesday and plan to put pressure on lawmakers to act before time runs out.
“The teachers of our state are fulfilling their commitment to students and classrooms across the state and we need and expect our state’s leadership to fulfill their commitment to teachers. Unfortunately they failed to do so today,” said Patrick Kelly, the director of governmental affairs for the Palmetto State Teachers Association.
And SC for Ed, a grassroots teacher advocacy group, is planning a Stand Up and Step Out day, encouraging its members to step out of their classrooms and take a personal day to call for step increases.
House Ways and Means Chairman Murrell Smith, a Sumter Republican, has said he would prefer to wait until January before considering teacher step increases and extra pay for state workers. At that point, he said, lawmakers will have six months worth of revenue figures to review to see if the economy is sufficiently rebounding amid the ongoing pandemic.
Smith has said he is willing to consider a supplemental spending plan in January.
Speaker Jay Lucas in a statement added there is no reliable financial data at this point in time which includes allocating hundreds of millions of dollars.
“Frankly, we cannot project that these funds will be available,” Lucas said. “When the General Assembly has more reliable data in January, the priorities of the House, many of which are enumerated in the Senate proposal, can be addressed with more certainty. It would be fiscally imprudent and dishonest to pass a spending plan and not know that we are able to fulfill these promises. Now is simply not the time.”
Earlier this fear, the Legislature adopted a continuing resolution to keep spending levels the same as the 2019-20 fiscal year.
Gov. Henry McMaster prefers that plan, even though lawmakers originally planned to pass a budget during the fall session.
“I have faith in the strength and resilience of South Carolinians, and I am confident that our state will recover and return stronger and more prosperous than ever. However, we must plan and prepare for all economic and revenue contingencies,” McMaster said in a statement on Twitter. “I believe the responsible thing to do is to exercise caution and wait until January before approving a new state budget.”
The South Carolina State Employees Association in a letter to House Speaker Jay Lucas and Smith had urged them to consider taking up the employee hazard pay.
“As we continue to battle the worst pandemic in our lifetime, it is prudent to ensure that state employees are at least recognized for their service,” the employee association wrote.
There is still time for lawmakers to take up the bill this week.
Although no Ways and Means committee meeting is scheduled to take place, the Teachers Association will continue to lobby for House members to take up the bill, Kelly said.
“We believe it’s never over till it’s over, and we will continue to advocate through the very last gavel of this session of the General Assembly for the General Assembly to meet the commitment that is established by our state salary schedule,” he said.
This story was originally published September 22, 2020 at 4:01 PM.
