Nebraska school board association members are reeling over a letter from the governor urging teachers to advocate for higher salaries in light of federal stimulus money used to bolster state aid.

"I just can't believe him sending that," said John Bonaiuto, executive director of the Nebraska Association of School Boards. "The governor's letter is insinuating districts have enough money to increase salaries substantially, and that's not true."

In a letter dated June 9, Gov. Dave Heineman urged Nebraska State Education Association leaders to work with their school districts to make sure the $234 million in additional state aid being appropriated over the next two years is used to increase teacher salaries.

"I am skeptical of mandating how school districts spend their state aid, but I've grown increasingly concerned that the substantial increases in state aid have not been reflected in teacher pay," he wrote.

The $234 million increase in state aid over the next two years is substantially more than the $100 million originally considered by the Legislature, given the recession and a drop in state tax revenue.

Using the $234 million in stimulus money increased the amount of state aid to schools and gave senators about $90 million in state tax dollars to plug holes in the state budget.

During debate, senators warned that schools shouldn't expect a big jump in state aid when federal stimulus money is gone.

But Heineman said in an interview that he's not just talking about the stimulus money. He said he has supported higher teacher salaries since he was elected governor. Every year, he said, there's been a substantial increase in state aid but teacher salaries have not increased proportionately - especially compared with increases in superintendent salaries.

"What I'm saying is all school districts seem to come to us and say we need a dramatic increase in state aid," he said.

If 80 percent to 85 percent of a district's budget is salaries, the governor said, "why aren't teachers seeing the increases superintendents are?"

But Bonaiuto said that without the stimulus money many districts would have faced staff reductions and a considerable hit to their budgets this year. Now, they'll likely be facing the same scenario in two years, making it hard to maintain big salary increases, he said.

"Was this the same governor who said, 'Be careful how you use this (stimulus) money because you can get into trouble if you don't use it wisely?' "

NSEA President Jess Wolf said he believes there will be enough money to maintain increases to state aid in two years.

"Those people talking about a cliff effect are just using it as a scare tactic in my opinion," he said.

The NSEA distributed Heineman's letter to all members, along with an e-mail from Wolf who called it "important and historic."

In the e-mail, Wolf encourages local associations to use the letter during salary negotiations, seeking an increase of at least $1,500 on base salaries for the 2009-10 school year.

Wolf said the NSEA believes school boards have the money to raise salaries by that amount, and it wanted to get school board members to realize there's a problem with teacher salaries.

"We believe there's lots of money available if they just put it where they should to get us from the 46th average salary in the country," he said.

But Bonaiuto said he's gotten calls from distraught school board members such those in Kearney, where the district is getting less state aid this year than last. Many districts are not getting large increases, he said.

Although Lincoln Public Schools is in the second year of a teacher contract that gives a 4 percent raise in salaries and benefits, many districts are just starting salary negotiations because of uncertainty regarding state aid.

"It is really setting some unrealistic expectations for teachers," Bonaiuto said.

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.