45r Clements' spiel to teachers a bit ofV. Texas schoolteacher groups are between a rock and a hard place for a gubernatorial can- didate to back in the November general elec- tion. They have a terrific mad on at Democratic Gov. Mark White, for whose 1982 election their support was crucial. They're angry about teacher-testing, the no-pass, no-play rule, and certain other features of the 1984 school-reform law that White and Dallas billionaire H. Ross Perot lobbied through the Legislature. So they have retaliated by withholding an endorse- ment of White's re-election. They can hardly forget, though, that former Gov. Bill Clements, renominated Saturday by the Republican Party for a comeback, treated them shabbily during his four years in office, 1979-83. Clements has been trying for several months to woo the teachers by pouring gasoline on the fire of their discontent. The teacher groups may soon reconsider an endorsement in the governor's race, but they would have to over- look a lot to endorse him. Teachers are furious that, in exchange for the pay raises furnished by the 1984 reform bill, the Legislature — with White's backing — threw in requirements for testing their compe- tency, which led to the recent one-time literacy test they must pass to keep their jobs. Clements has recently criticized the working of that program, perhaps leaving the impres- sion he opposes it. Yet in February 1979, the Texas State Teachers Association recalls, he advocated "periodic competency tests" for both teachers and students, so educational fi,Pi • 4,, L4VSt ' • .AUSTIN quality could be continually monitored. In current television commercials, Clements is boasting that teacher salaries were in- creased almost 50 percent during his four years as governor. What he doesn't say in the commercials is that he had very little to do with it. The hefty state pay increases were voted by the Legislature over his opposition, while much of the higher pay was local district supplementation of the state-set minimum sal- ary schedules. Texas Education Agency statistics show the average teacher salary (including local sup- plementation) rose from $12,975 in the 1978-79 school year (then ranking 33rd in the nation) to $19,550 in 1982-83 — an increase of $6,575, or 50 percent. (With further increases after Clements left office, the average has reached $24,500 for 1985- 86 and ranks 24th in the nation, the TSTA says. But ironically, despite White's strong push to increase salaries, the average increase during his four-year administration will amount to only about 35 percent, the TSTA says.) What the boastful Clements commercial does not tell you, though, is that in 1979, after the teachers had strongly backed his unsuc- cessful opponent for governor, Democrat. John Hill, Clements proposed only a 1 percent-bien- nial teacher pay raise, despite a much higher annual inflation rate. He rejected the Legisla- tive Budget Board's recommendation of a 5.1 percent annual (more than 10 percent bieDni- al) teacher raise, though he endorsed the LBB's proposal for a 5.1 percent annual raise for state employees. Clements argued that the teachers should not have the LBEi-proposed raise becausepun- der then-existing law, they were already due to receive annual raises; but those were merely the annual Increments, averaging about I per- cent, intended for additional experience. Clements also then proposed limiting school districts' ability to enrich the state-set mini- mum salaries, a plan never adopted. When teachers complained, he made them hopping mad by saying, "Teachers have an insatiable appetite for salaries." Clements never fought, as did White, for any teacher salary increases. Ignoring Clements, the 1979 Legislature, in- creased state teacher salaries about 24.5 per- cent over the biennium in such a way he couldn't practically veto them. In 1981, he proposed only a 6.5 percent bien- nial pay raise for teachers, but the Legislature approved a biennial increase of roughly 25 per- cent. That year Clements also angered teachers by vetoing a bill to create a teacher health- insurance program which they had tried to!get established for many years.