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Sergio Munoz, Jr. pledges to file legislation to boost teacher pay, protect retired teachers

Thursday, January 7th, 2010


Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission

By DAVID A. DÍAZ

            Emphasizing the importance of public education, state representative candidate Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission, on Friday, January 9, promised to file legislation to seek a $5,000 across-the-board annual state pay raise for the state's public school classroom teachers.

The average teacher salary in Texas continues to rank in the bottom half in the nation, more than $5,000 below the national average, according to state legislative findings. Muñoz, a Palmview Municipal Court Judge who credits his teachers for helping him earn his dream of a college education and law degree, also said he would fight hard in the Texas Legislature to protect the pensions and health insurance protections for retired educators and their spouses.

He added he would work on making higher education more accessible and affordable and would assist and support more parental involvement with their children's education.

"One of the first bills I would file as a state lawmaker would be legislation that would boost teacher salaries by $2,500 per year beginning September 1, 2011, and then adding another $2,500 annual pay raise for teachers beginning September 1, 2012," said Muñoz.

"Everything that is good for a person is made possible by the education they receive, and that means we must invest in keeping and attracting the best teachers." Muñoz said that the best interests of retired teachers also would be high on his priorities when the Texas Legislature returns to work in Austin in mid-January 2011.

"In order to keep experienced teachers from being taken by other professions, we also need to make sure they have know they will have a good pension awaiting them when they retire, and that the state continues to provide them and their spouses with affordable, quality health insurance," Muñoz added.

The Mission High School graduate, who earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin and received his law degree from Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston, is seeking the March 2, 2010 Democratic Party nomination for state representative, House District 36.

House District 36 includes Granjeno, Hidalgo, southern McAllen, most of Mission, Palmview, Peñitas, and Pharr.  For regions such as the Valley, which has more than 300,000 students and growing – according to the Region One Education Service Center – keeping and attracting top-quality teachers is crucial for the continuing development of one of the most important areas of the state, he said.

"South Texas is economic and transportation gateway between Mexico, Texas, and much of our nation, and a well-educated population down in the Valley is crucial to success for everyone," Muñoz added. "We cannot afford to lose our best and most-experienced educators to better pay in other professions."

He said he would work closely with educators, school board leaders, support personnel, parents, taxpayers, and administrators on legislation that affects all aspects of public education.

In addition to filing the teacher pay raise measure and protecting the pensions and health insurance coverage for retired teachers and their spouses, Muñoz said he would also work on legislation that:

• Improves protection of worker's rights for all school district teachers and support personnel;

• Increases state funding to cover costs of expanding 22 student maximum class size; and

• Restricts the use of standardized testing results as the determining factor in  closing down public schools or terminating classroom educators.

"As with these and all other issues, I will always maintain an open-door policy and an open mind on these important concerns," he said.

"There will literally be dozens of major bills considered by state lawmakers that will affect public education, and I want to hear from my constituents on every one of these measures."

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Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission

Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission

Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission

Sergio Muñoz, Jr., D-Mission

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