Teachers stage walk-in demanding pay after leasing deal approved for Isaac School District
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Isaac School District got official approval for a lease-back deal on Thursday from a neighboring school district to help them with their budget crisis, but the top question of will teachers get paid this week still remains up in the air.
The Tolleson Union High School District officially moved the $25 million to the struggling school district in west Phoenix.
Until it’s approved by the Maricopa County Treasurer’s Office, teachers still aren’t being paid. They staged a walk-in on Friday morning to demand their paychecks.
Officials said they revised the contract so that Isaac has five years to pay back the money at 6% interest instead of 12 years to better protect the agreement from legal challenges.
Tolleson school district said as of Thursday afternoon, all needed documents have been sent to the treasurer’s office.
However, district officials said they haven’t heard back from Maricopa County Treasurer John Allen or his office.
“The Maricopa County Treasurer’s Office has not confirmed that they will be releasing the Isaac Elementary School District payroll and they have provided no response to Tolleson Union High School District or Isaac Elementary School District since the completion of all required actions,” Tolleson Union High School District said in a news release.
So it’s unclear when the treasurer will give the money to Isaac School District and when it’ll be used to pay teachers, who haven’t had a paycheck since Jan. 21 and have been working unpaid since Wednesday.
In a written statement released on Thursday night, Arizona Education Association president and Isaac teacher Marisol Garcia said teachers will be at work on Friday and are hopeful they will get paid this week.
“Isaac members have made an extraordinary sacrifice to work for free to secure this deal to keep schools open, because students need qualified educators in the classroom. While we were hoping for paychecks to be processed today, Isaac members are going into work on Friday, because they have an assurance that they will receive their overdue paychecks as soon as Treasurer John Allen fulfills his role. I couldn’t be more proud of our members for doing more than should be expected of any worker, but I look forward to this issue finally being resolved on Friday,” she said.
In the lease-back deal, Isaac School District is selling Isaac Middle School to Tolleson Union High School District for $25 million and Tolleson will then lease back the building at 6% interest.
Tolleson said it moved the funds on Thursday from the maintenance and operations fund to the capital outlay fund to protect against any challenge that the budget capacity wasn’t assigned to the proper fund.
Issac School District needed the cash because its budget was nearly $30 million in the red.
Allen said earlier this week that the district is cut off and he will only bankroll paychecks if the Legislature forces him to.
The district received $6 million in federal funds earlier this week, but Allen said that money would only go toward paying off the district’s debts, not teacher payroll.
Republican Rep. Matt Gress from Phoenix is sponsoring the bill, HB 2610, that would help with the money and offer accountability. It passed unanimously in a committee but has yet to go before the House floor.
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