Lawmakers sticking with 3.5 percent raises

With the Senate approving a 3.5 percent teacher pay raise, the House has proposed giving everyone else _ well, school service personnel, corrections officers, social workers and other state employees, anyway _ the same increase.

The House Finance Committee has included an across-the-board 3.5 percent raise in its version of the 2007-2008 state budget, as The Associated Press reports.

I also offer other details from the proposed budget in the article, while noting that several pending bills could alter some of the spending.

The Senate-passed business tax cut bills are among those influencing measures, according to Finance Chairman Harry Keith White, D-Mingo. They're not dead yet, he told me.

Gov. Joe Manchin, meanwhile, stressed to the AP on Wednesday that he's keeping an open mind about the pay proposals. Though they depart from what he's requested (2.5 percent for teachers, $1,000 for corrections officers, for instance), Manchin said he wants the Legislature to do its thing.