I didn't make it to Raleigh for the final meeting of the General Assembly's teacher compensation task force, but the report is online and it's pretty much as predicted: This panel is tossing the topic back to legislators and asking them to tap the state Board of Education for another round of study.
The recommendations are broad and fairly obvious: Focus on a pay system that benefits students, raise pay for newer teachers as a short-term goal (a tactic already proposed by Gov. Pat McCrory and GOP leaders) and make across-the-board hikes and "modernization" a long-term goal. Just how long isn't clear, but a draft proposal suggests giving the state board another year to study teacher compensation, with a goal of putting something in place in 2016-17.
The report indicates that the task force was intrigued by career-ladder approaches such as that being piloted with Charlotte-Mecklenburg's "opportunity culture" program, and by the IMPACT teacher evaluation model in use in District of Columbia Public Schools.
"There are no examples of state-centered comprehensive compensation models that have positively impacted student achievement and have been sustained," the report notes. "Reform models that emphasizes (sic) local flexibility within evidence-based parameters may be a more promising and sustainable strategy."
The lack of specifics on how to raise salaries and modernize the pay plan drew fire from some of the educators and legislators who served, the AP's Gary Robertson reports. "We've heard a lot of presentations and propaganda but there really hasn't been a whole lot of meaningful discussion going forward," said Timothy Barnsback, president of the Professional Educators of North Carolina.
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Judy Kidd, president of the Classroom Teachers Association, said the task force was "playing kick the can."
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State Rep. Tricia Cotham, D-Mecklenburg, posted a critical synopsis on her Facebook page: "I called the committee report 'fluff' and argued that many teachers are hurting NOW. Teachers across NC are trying to make ends meet as we speak. I challenged my colleagues to 'put their money where their mouth is' and send the message that we as a state value our teachers, our children, and education."
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32 comments:
Thank You Thom Tillis and Gov McCrory (or Tollus & McCrony) for proposing and allowing the state of NC to become a giant joke. PEOPLE - you have to vote the people with an (R) next to their name out of office as ever since Ronald Regan became President they have become the land of the rich and don't care about anyone with less than a million dollars. Keep voting for the GOP, keep getting crazy laws that hurt us all.
Thank you Bev perdue for raiding the NC Education Lottery twice and freezing teacher salaries when you controlled the state.
PEOPLE - keep going into the voting booth and blindly pulling the D next to their names, just as you have done for the worst President in US history, Obama.
That way, you can have government give you everything you want without having to work for it.
Keep voting for New Hypocrisy Democrats and you'll keep getting the same lousy education system we've had for over 40 years.
The knife cuts both ways.
Anyone can see why Teachers, Unions and Government Workers vote and donate to Democrats in such large numbers.
First see how these groups donate www.OpenSecrets.org
Then notice how even during the bad times, Teachers got about two percent a year and State Employees go up to five percent a year.
http://www.ncae.org/wp-content/uploads/history-of-salaries-in-NC-2013.pdf
So saying vote only for Democrats is a way of not changing the system and getting any performance changes from CMS and the schools like that.
Oh did anyone notice Charter Students get about twenty five hundred less per student than those in NC at systems like CMS.
Yet they do such a great job, or are closed. Now that is real performance for pay. Oh and do not get free tax payers school buildings. I forgot to say that.
So yes vote Democrat and get more and more and more and more and more. That is the way to vote tody.
You just wonder if Bev Perdue would have been successful in her quest to suspend elections if we would be where we are today.
Of course, she could have run for re-election herself. I wonder why she didn't?
The report notes, accurately, that "There are no examples of state-centered comprehensive compensation models that have positively impacted student achievement and have been sustained." But then it continues with the wishful thinking so common to corporate ed reform (see the constantly unfulfilled promises of "better tests" that turn out to only mean "more expensive tests that increase corporate profits"), imagining (with no actual evidence) that local programs "may be more promising." Meanwhile, our state is bleeding good teachers because of low pay and the disrespect that the legislature has shown to educators. If state legislators don't see this as a crisis, one has to question their commitment to public education.
Anonymous 7:17--Keep voting mindlessly for the Dems in Charlotte and you will get the likes of Patrick Cannon. Oh, and of course our state was served so well for many years by Democrat Jim Black and cronies (who of course cared nothing about money--were only out to help the poor and downtrodden). Moral--educate yourself thoroughly before voting!
Another couple years of GOPer Legislature and puppet Governor and we'll rank #50 in teacher pay. Good job guys! Mississippi is routing for you.
"If state legislators don't see this as a crisis, one has to question their commitment to public education."
Exactly. They do not see this as a crisis, and they are not committed to public education.
In the words of the great Gomer Pyle, "Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!"
Russell Lee Jones Vocational Training Incorporated will be submitting a Charter School application for the 2016 school year. We will be obligated to share that the starting salaries for teachers will be HIGHER than CMS, and that we plan to offer YEARLY PAY INCREASES for each successive year that a teacher performs their job adequately or exceptionally well. We believe that teachers deserve to be treated with dignity and respect as PROFESSIONAL ADULTS.
To learn more about us we invite you to visit our website at www.RLJVocationalTraining.com
Charter Schools can pick and choose the students they will accept. Some charters are great but some are rather mediocre. Same as public schools. are
In the meantime, teachers are losing tens of thousands of dollars in lost step increases while the legislators kick the can down the road.
www.resignnc.org/five--steps-back
anonymous 1:42,
while I do agree that many charters do use tactics to be selective in who attends their schools, I disagree that either charter or traditional public schools are mediocre. Schools can only do so much, parents share the majority of the responsibilty in the education of their children. My children work hard in school and are succesful students because we have instilled those values in our children. Sadly, far too many children do not have such parents as my children have. I don't blame the schools for children struggling in school, I blame their families. It doesn't take money to read to your children or to ensure they do their home work, it merely takes a desire to do so. The reality in life is that children are a product of their environment.
There will always be schools that under perform due to the community that it serves, Charlotte is made up of many of those under performing communities. I admire those teachers who are fighting an uphill battle trying to make a difference in those communities.
You can blame Democrats all you want (which is intellectually lazy), but it doesn't solve anything, you're burying your head in the sand just as much as the people you're complaining about.
The fact remains that VAM as it relates to performance pay is not a valid solution, research backs this up solidly.
The state legislature will not see this until it's too late, they are setting up teachers to be measured by ill-conceived equations and will end encouraging teachers to compete against one another for salary instead of working together to educate.
State legislators fall all over themselves claiming to support and respect teachers but their actions have yet to back up their words. One of the GOP planks to make government small and efficient, yet they continue to study, study and study ways to figure out teacher pay - classic bureaucracy.
Simple question: Why should any teacher trust anything said by any state legislator about teacher pay?
This is the kind of stuff you get out of the "less government" crowd! They fail to realize that tax revenues provides funds for the government to run and pay those who work for it (including teachers)!
If you repeat it enough folks begin to believe it.
Cherry picking by Charters is one of those things which folks still believe as they are told that by democrats, and those deeply entrenched and enriched by the likes of CMS.
Second for the life of me I did not know that commercial for Mr. Obvious was real. In fact we have him or her on here telling us taxes pay for government. Which means they must think we think Government is rich and just help us with spending our tax money.
But at least Mr or Mrs Obvious can keep from looking at the spending by the government. I will bet not many folks who post on here have even gone to www.Recovery.gov and looked at how that close to a trillion was spent.
In fact if you could, try to find the 66 billion that went to non existent districts. The government can not find it, so maybe you can.
Articles like this conveniently ignore the fact that North Carolina is a southern state with low wages and a low cost of living. Teacher wages will continue to be low here for a really long time no matter which party is in power.
I suspect counties will have no trouble filling nearly every teaching slot, with or without a pay increase. Where are all the unfilled teaching jobs? We haven't heard about them.
I believe teachers become teachers because they enjoy seeing children learn. They sacrifice low wages when get the job for higher wages later in their careers. Many tend to like jobs with summers off, school days that end before 4 pm, lots of long paid holidays, terrific job security, medical and dental coverage, early retirement and a nice pension. Yes, wages are low compared to other professions, but the benefits are still good.
Tax revenues also go to pay for massive waste and fraud in public education in the billions.
Teachers deserve raises and to make more money, but this issue is being kept in the forefront to deflect from the real problems and failures in education which have little to nothing to do with teachers and their salaries.
Where'd the actually STORY go that was published and on the front page for two days? Can't find it anywhere...is TCO a wussy? The story was getting too much heat? Tsk. Tsk.
Good teachers are leaving in droves..
.. Poor leadership.
7 years without a real raise and no plan moving forward is crap. If you where a teacher with a family it would be important to you. My kids school has lost 6 teachers this year and I am tired of it. I voted for Tillis and Mcory, I expected leadership..
NC does not have high wages.. Just studies, a pay freeze and teachers looking to leave.
What? NC does not have negotiated contracts. The teachers association is just a mouth piece. Teachers pay has been frozen. No steps, no adjustment for inflation. They had a 2/3 % raise 2 or 3 years ago. I like fox news and I usually vote conservative but NC treatment of teachers is wrong. They are not the enemy. This is not New York. Republicans used to have a working relationship with his teachers in NC.
She wouldn't of had teacher support. Just like Tillis will not. I am voting for another conservative. Not a RINO who bashes teachers.
Awesome
Legislators are not the problem as much as the overpaid administrators and "consultants" within the IVORY TOWER. Soon to be the NEW CORPORATE TOWER.
Bev had no choice but to freeze teacher pay scales due to members of the Corporatist Party gambling, losing, then crippling our economy. Remember the "shared sacrifice" teachers went through? Furloughs? Ringing any bells? But now, the DOW is at record levels, big business is sitting on billions in cash, banks like Citi Group and Bank of America continue to shirk their tax duties (further pushing it onto the middle class), our bonehead governor gives another tax break for the wealthy and then we all sit around scratching our heads as to why state revenue is down. Teachers are leaving the state in droves, and will continue to get worse (yes Wiley, some of us actually have "foresight," you know, a Republican's Achilles heal?) and we'll soon have a teacher shortage here. But don't worry, the governor's plan is to raise beginning teacher pay to fill the void by recruiting from other states since we won't have any home-bread teachers since student enrollment is down for education majors in the Universities across the state and we've successfully eliminated the Teaching Fellows scholarhip. Great solution, McDummy...let's have the majority of our teacher pool be made up of teachers with less than five years experience. Good plan if you are looking to save money in your budget, bad plan if you gave two craps about the quality of education your constituent's children are receiving.
Larry, teachers didn't get "about two percent a year" during bad times. You are clueless, as usual. As for the rest of your koolaid-saturated rant, Charter students receive less money than public schools because charters don't provide transportation, which is a huge expense. And as for not getting "free, taxpayer school buildings." You are right about that. They cost one dollar.
True, but who to vote for? I know Tillis will not get my vote, what conservative will help teachers?
Charters are not new Larry.. Only one in four are successful. It's not a secret.
No they are not, 70/30 health insurance.. Pay has been frozen for 7 years.. We are not talking about cost of living or inflation raises!! My kids school has had 3 good teachers leave DURING THE school year.. The pay was low before the freeze. Now it is ridiculous.
We do not have dental, what's my pension going to be worth if in 30 years I am still making 33 thousand dollars. Do you understand pay freeze?
How will teachers get higher pay later on if there pay is FROZEN? Mcory is trying to scrap teachers longevity pay. Do you live in a bubble. You are talking about the way it used to be. Please wake up. They have lost benefits and there low pay has been FROZEN. That means stopped. It's going on 7 years of being paid the exact same wage with less benefits. Tillis and Mcory cut teacher security and benefits. This is why they are being arrested in protest in Raleigh.
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