AUSTIN – Texas Public Policy Foundation Director of the Center for Local Governance James Quintero and Economist Dr. Vance Ginn issued the following statements on news that the San Antonio Independent School District will consider a phased in minimum wage increase to $15 per hour.
“San Antonio ISD should reject calls for a government mandated minimum wage increase and instead focus on getting its house in order,” said James Quintero, director of the Center for Local Governance at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “Right now, SAISD’s student enrollment is shrinking while its debt is exploding. The latest data reveal that from the 2004-05 to 2013-14 school years, the district’s enrollment shrank by 4.9 percent while it grew statewide by 14.6 percent. This is at the same time that SAISD’s debt skyrocketed to almost $1.1 billion, or $20,250 owed per student.”
“San Antonio ISD is in a dire fiscal situation that suggests artificially raising workers’ cost is not good policy. Across-the-board wage increases are bad public policy because they don’t incentivize productivity and they burden taxpayers unnecessarily,” said Dr. Vance Ginn, economist with the Center for Fiscal Policy. “With limited resources available in SAISD, productive private sector style merit-based raises should be used to encourage increased productivity helping taxpayers, workers, and students.”
James Quintero is director of the Center for Local Governance at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Vance Ginn, Ph.D. is an Economist in the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a non-profit, free-market research institute based in Austin, Texas.