On December 6 the WEA teacher union issued a notice to teachers (posted below) hailing a big opportunity to “negotiate big pay raises.”

Surprise, surprise. The money is already there. Current revenues are sufficient to pay teachers, and to give them big pay raises.

Let’s review. The 2017-19 state budget for K-12 schools is $21.9 billion, a $3.2 billion increase over the last budget. The four-year budget outlook provides billions more in 2019-21. The 2017-19 state budget was the state’s final response in the McCleary school funding case, a case filed by the WEA teacher union in 2007. Since then, the state has nearly doubled school funding, from $11.7 billion in 2005 to $21.9 billion today.

The WEA union has used the complexity of school finance to confuse the state supreme court and the public about the amount of money that is actually needed for the schools. In October, less than two months ago, the WEA union lawyer told the state supreme court in the McCleary school funding lawsuit that the state has not provided enough money to fund teacher pay. The court declared on page 41 of its order that teachers need $1 billion from the 2018 Legislature to fund their salaries.

This new December 6 WEA union notice reveals that this extra $1 billion is not needed. Taxpayers don’t have to provide another $1 billion to fund teacher salaries, or even to give them “big pay raises.” The money is already there.