Don’t blame teachers

Senator Mark Schoesler’s recent opinion piece in the Spokesman (“Big raises for teachers led to pending cuts,” April 18) cites large pay raises for Washington teaches to the current cuts we are suffering from in the Spokane area.

Schoesler blames educator unions (right out of the conservative playbook) but should have, instead, blamed Washington’s legislators and executives. Educator pay raises (which have been lagging behind raises for other college-educated careers, such that in 2015, public school teachers’ weekly wages were 17% lower than those of comparable workers — compared with just 1.8% lower in 1994) have been long overdue, and it is a mistake to see double-digit increases as a sign of undue union influence rather than just catching up. After all, no one forced the state to accept the negotiated $2 billion to increase educator salaries in the 2018-19 school year.

What is more, HB 2242, which provided the funding, had bipartisan support, but more Republicans than Democrats voted for the education-funding measure. Schoesler also voted “yes” and the measure was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee. It is a moral error to attribute cuts and pink slips to teachers and their union representatives when it is the state government’s job to predict costs before passing legislation. Please stick to your job, Senator Schoesler, and leave the political spin to the hacks.

Kevin S. Decker

Spokane