Teachers who expected an end-of-the-year bonus in two of Tucson's largest school districts are finding out the money isn't there.
Officials in the Tucson and Sunnyside unified school districts are unable to pay teachers about $600 in additional money from excess Proposition 301 revenue. The measure was approved by voters in 2000 to give districts money to improve schools through a sales-tax increase of 0.6 of a percentage point.
Some officials say the districts shouldn't have overestimated the revenue from the increase. And some teachers say they wish they'd never known that a bonus was promised.
In Sunnyside, the bonus would have been $643.50 per teacher. TUSD teachers were expecting about $500.
TUSD and Sunnyside are the only local districts that use all their Proposition 301 money to pay teachers, but not all of it goes right into paychecks. About 40 percent is contingent on annual teacher performance, judged by a school's rate of improvement.
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At least 60 percent of the fund is required to go to teacher pay, and other districts have elected to use the rest for such things as AIMS tutoring and reducing class sizes.
Because the fund's revenue was not as high as expected, the state Department of Education doled out about $35 less per pupil to districts. Instead of paying teachers a smaller bonus, Sunnyside and TUSD decided to not pay teachers the bonus at all and save the money for future bonuses.
"We thought there'd be enough money," Sunnyside spokeswoman Monique Soria said. "They feel like they're the ones getting shorted, but it was the intent to pay this."
About 1,200 teachers work in Sunnyside and 2,400 in TUSD.
Vicki Salazar, the state's associate superintendent of business and finance, said districts should not rely on previous estimates to make projections.
"The revenue is not a sure thing," she said.
Revenue projections have been less than expected in previous years, but officials say they expected consumer spending to keep the fund healthy.
The spring bonus would have been equal to the fall bonus teachers received in both districts. TUSD officials said they worked with the Tucson Education Association — the union that represents TUSD teachers — to determine the amount of the fall stipend and later inform teachers that the spring bonus would not be coming.
"At the beginning, it was disappointing, but we just said, 'At least we got one payment,' " union President Rosalva Meza said.
Alli Coyle, who taught band at Sunnyside High School this year but has left for another job, said she was never told of any spring bonus.
"I'm not surprised," said Coyle, who thought the $1,260 performance bonus she got last month was the stipend. "This always happens. There's a little bit of a lack of communication."
Calls to the Sunnyside Education Association were not returned Tuesday.
District officials say they wanted to give teachers the bonus. But none of the options — including borrowing from next year's yet-to-be-approved budgets — seemed viable.
"We can't borrow on next year's money," Soria said. "That's not fiscally sound."
● Number of Sunnyside teachers: about 1,200
● Bonus expected to be paid to Sunnyside teachers in May: $643.50
● Number of TUSD teachers: about 2,400
● Bonus expected to be paid to TUSD teachers in May: about $500
