PHOENIX — Editor's Note: The above video is from an earlier broadcast.
A large number of experienced teachers in the Phoenix Elementary School District are expected to lose a chunk of their paycheck after a compensation program expires in the next year.
While the district's younger teachers can expect to see a salary increase next year, Phoenix Elementary's veteran instructors may lose thousands of dollars from their annual salary.
The issue revolves around how PESD utilized federal funding through the Rewarding Excellence in Instruction and Leadership grant program to compensate teachers.
About 45% of the district's teachers received an average of $9,500 through this compensation, according to district records.
The federal grant was allocated until 2017 and PESD planned to keep the compensation going for a few more years, but now the district says it's no longer able to afford the program.
"It costs $2.4 million to sustain this program each year. There are no funds remaining from the years in which we participated in the grant that allow the District to continue the program," PESD wrote in a statement last week.
As a result, PESD estimates 171 teachers will experience an average salary reduction of $5,000. But up to 65% of teachers are expected to get a bonus in the next year.
During a school board meeting on Feb. 24, several of the district's teachers condemned administrators for how they handled the salary issue.
Some threatened not to return to teaching next year, others criticized the district for cutting salaries at a time when the Valley's cost-of-living expenses are rising.
"We've earned this extra pay," Naomi Robert, a Shaw Montessori School teacher, told the school board last month. "It's been a very tough year, so the timing could not be worse."
District officials said PESD likely wouldn't be grappling with these salary issues if Prop. 208, the voter-approved initiative that would have generated $800 million a year for K-12 education, had come to fruition.
Litigation attempting to overturn Prop. 208 has stopped the new education tax from taking effect.
Despite the financial woes, PESD said the average teacher salary in its district should still be above Arizona's average in the years to come.
VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL : Se espera que más de 170 maestros de Phoenix Elementary District vean recortes salariales
Up to Speed
Catch up on the latest news and stories on the 12 News YouTube channel. Subscribe today.