GILROY
– Gilroy school board members are ready to go to bat for the
more than 190 district teachers who are owed a $500 language arts
training stipend from the state of California.
GILROY – Gilroy school board members are ready to go to bat for the more than 190 district teachers who are owed a $500 language arts training stipend from the state of California.
At a special board workshop Tuesday, trustees directed district staff to put a payment deadline on the state. If teachers do not receive the money by whatever date is picked by staff, the district will send a letter from the school board demanding immediate payment of the funds.
Trustees also encouraged staff to contact state assembly members and senators to push the process along.
“If it’s going to be a tough budget year, let’s at least be good advocates for our teachers and be politically proactive,” school board President Jim Rogers said.
Payment of the roughly $100,000 was supposed to be received in late summer before the beginning of the school year. The payment has not been delayed because of California’s $35 billion budget crisis since the stipend money was already set aside last fiscal year, the district said.
Increasing frustration is that the state has not been forthright in handling their lack of payment, the district said. In the summer, the state said it had organizational problems with the money and in the fall, the state said the paperwork was lost.
“They keep telling us things that just aren’t true,” Assistant Superintendent Jacki Horejs said. “We checked on it again (Monday) and they said, ‘the checks are in the mail and you should receive it in a couple weeks.’ But I don’t know why it would take that long to receive them by mail.”
Trustees are worried that the state’s inability to pay up will translate into a reluctance by teachers to commit to future training. Professional development is one of the key components to the district’s plan for educational reform.
The language arts training was the third of three development sessions held by the California Professional Development Institute for the first time last school year. Teachers attending the other trainings, which covered math and the high school exit exam, did receive stipends.
Horejs said frustration over the missing funds “will undoubtedly negatively affect future participation in any state funded trainings.” She added that due to budget cuts, the state will not likely offer these particular trainings again.
“We were lucky we got in on the first year of it,” Horejs said.
