While state employees and teachers may still face furloughs because of the coronavirus recession, a top Georgia Senate leader said Thursday that they won’t be asked to work the same hours for less pay.
Senate President Pro Tem Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, dumped cold water on a suggestion that Senate budget writers made Tuesday that pre-k teachers work the same hours for 10% less pay, rather than be furloughed.
They said other employees might take pay cuts rather than furloughs, too.
Under furloughs, employees are forced to take days off of work without pay. If the state cuts their salaries, they’d work the same hours for less money.
Teachers were angered by the idea and by comments made Tuesday by Senate budget writers who questioned the willingness of educators to “sacrifice” for the children they teach.
Sen. Ellis Black, R-Valdosta, who heads the education budget subcommittee, suggested a "special deduction" from the salary of pre-kindergarten teachers rather than furloughs. He said he was concerned that furloughs would mean fewer school days for 4-year-olds in the program.
“If we follow through on (furloughs), they are going to get less money and children are going to get less education,” Black said. “The question is, how dedicated are these teachers? Are they willing to make that much of a sacrifice so these kids can get an education?”
Miller serves on the subcommittee and did not openly object to the suggestion during Tuesday’s meeting.
But Thursday, he tweeted that the state won’t ask teachers and other employees to work for less money.
“As the General Assembly has anticipated, there will be drastic cuts in this year’s budget due to COVID-19,” Miller wrote. “However, educators, first responders, and staffers are incredible assets to the functions of our state.
“Asking them to work the same hours for less pay, as some have suggested, is unacceptable. While furlough days are not ideal, we certainly will not be asking state employees to work without adequate compensation.”
Talk of furloughs -- which were common during the Great Recession for state workers and teachers -- and pay cuts have been making the rounds at the Capitol ever since the coronavirus pandemic shutdown began.
The leaders of the House and Senate budget committees and the Office of Planning and Budget sent letters to state agencies May 1 requesting plans to cut spending 14% — or more than $3.5 billion — in the upcoming fiscal year because of the coronavirus recession.
A report on state tax collections for April that came out a few days later showed why. They were down $1 billion from April 2019 as businesses shut down and unemployment hit record levels.
Under budget plans submitted last week, more than 1,000 filled jobs would be eliminated and tens of thousands of state employees would be furloughed.
The General Assembly will return to the Capitol to complete the 2020 session in June.
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