N.C. 25 percent law: Headaches, costs and questions

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board spent an hour last night hashing through the state law that phases out teacher tenure.

The gist boils down to three words:  What a mess.

The law,  passed this summer,  requires school districts to offer four-year contracts that include $500-a-year raises to 25 percent of teachers who have worked three consecutive years and earned  "proficient" job ratings.  Teachers who accept those contracts have to voluntarily sign away their  "career status"  rights,  which will disappear for all teachers in 2018.

Districts across the state have spent the ensuing months grappling with how to put that into practice,  looking at everything from who qualifies as a teacher to how you choose one in four without getting sued,  Superintendent Heath Morrison and CMS lawyer Jonathan Sink told the board.  (Read the presentation here.)

"It is one of the most complicated pieces of legislation I have ever seen,"  Morrison said.

Ellis-Stewart

" 'Complicated' is being very nice,"  responded board member Ericka Ellis-Stewart.

Ellis-Stewart is a Democrat,  and the 25 percent law is a creation of the Republican-dominated state legislature.  But frustration on the local board was bipartisan.

Vice chair Tim Morgan,  a Republican,  noted that teachers have vowed to fight the law in court.  "I hold no animosity toward the teachers who are going to be bringing the lawsuit,"  Morgan said,  looking at a handful of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators officers in the audience.

Morgan

Morgan noted that CMS will likely be forced to spend county tax money defending a system that local officials didn't create and don't support  --  "dollars that would be better spent in the classroom."

Morrison repeatedly told the board he believes lawmakers'  intentions were good,  but said the plan is rife with confusion and unintended consequences.

Sink said several lawmakers have told him their intent was to reward and motivate classroom teachers.  But the state attorney general has ruled that the legal definition of  "teacher"  includes other certified people in instructional roles,  such as counselors,  social workers,  media specialists  (aka librarians)  and deans of students.  In CMS that's more than 10,000 people.

Once you rule out those who haven't worked three consecutive years,  you're looking at more than 6,000.  CMS currently has 5,789  "teachers"  who meet the three-year requirement and have no rating lower than proficient,  HR Chief Terri Cockerham said.

The district calculates that 25 percent of eligible teachers will come to about 1,500 people who will be offered the contract and raise.  And that poses the central question:  How do you sort the 25 percent who get the offer from the 75 percent who don't?

The obvious method,  taking those with the highest ratings,  won't work.  The district calculated that 45 percent of teachers have no rating below  advanced  or  distinguished,  which are higher than proficient.  Morrison noted that a literal reading of the law,  which says no teachers can get the contract offer unless they've shown effectiveness  "as demonstrated by proficiency on the teacher evaluation"  might eliminate those who are above proficient,  though the legislators clearly intended proficiency to be the minimum.

CMS administrators and teachers are looking at other criteria,  such as National Board Certification,  attendance records and the difficulty of filling the positions.  Morgan,  who is on the board of the N.C. School Boards Association,  said some districts have considered offering the contracts to the most experienced eligible teachers,  while others say it makes more sense to offer them to the newest and lowest-paid in hopes of enticing them to stay.

Tate

Board member Tom Tate captured the general sense of confusion and frustration when the discussion began.  "My question is how is this helping us?"  Tate asked.  "How much time and energy are we putting into this that we ought to be putting into other things?  Is it going to be a net gain or a net loss?"

So what comes next?  This post is running long, so come back tomorrow for a look at the race against the clock.

Education advocates get ready for Raleigh in 2014

The 2014 legislative session may be six months away,  but it's very much alive in the minds of people who care about education in North Carolina.

If you missed it during the holidays,  be sure to read John Frank's piece on the prospects for a teacher pay raise.  Frank reports that Republican legislative leaders say it's needed but don't agree on how to go about it.

Meanwhile,  the League of Women Voters of Charlotte-Mecklenburg will hold a forum this Saturday on how the state budget affects education close to home.  Titled  "What happens in Raleigh matters in Mecklenburg,"  the session is from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Dec. 7 at the YWCA, 3420 Park Road.

Mitchell

Speakers include Ann Clark,  deputy superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools;  John Dornan,  former director of the Public School Forum of North Carolina;  and Tazra Mitchell, a budget and tax policy analyst for the N.C. Justice Center.

For details or to RSVP, contact Mary Klenz, maryklenz@gmail.com or 704-542-9858.

N.C. school boards seek more clout in Raleigh

Tim Morgan, vice chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board, is leading a new group that hopes to give school districts a stronger voice with state lawmakers.  Local boards and  "public education as we know it" face "a battle for survival,"  according to a memo sent to school boards in August.

Morgan

This summer brought a burst of legislation focused on public education,  shaping everything from teacher pay to school ratings to vouchers.  "We ended up having to play a lot of defense this last legislative session,"  Morgan said.

The N.C. School Boards Association, a nonprofit with limited ability to spend money on lobbying,  created the N.C. School Boards Action Center to hire lobbyists and do public awareness campaigns to promote the association's legislative agenda.  Morgan, who serves on the association's board of directors,  was chosen as president of the new action center board.

"What we face today is a battle for survival, both of public education as we know it and of the model of locally elected board governance of public school system operations," says an August memo from Morgan and NCSBA President Evelyn Bulluck. "Our ability to endure in the face of these extraordinary challenges requires that we recognize and accept the changed environment in which we operate and embrace new ideas and concepts in thinking about how we advocate."

The plan calls for a $431,000 budget,  with districts making contributions ranging from $2,000 to $10,000, depending on size.  Morgan said CMS is paying its $10,000 share from the superintendent's budget for lobbying.

The group has already drawn criticism from the conservative John Locke Foundation.  Terry Stoops,  the foundation's education director,  said in a recent Carolina Journal article that local board should refuse to contribute.  "Tax dollars have no business being used to further the political agenda of any organization, let alone one that operates far from the mainstream," Stoops said in the journal, which is published by the Locke Foundation.

Stoops is quoted as saying the NCSBA is trying to replace current legislators:  "They decided to be bridge burners,  rather than bridge builders,  in their approach to the legislature."

Morgan  (a Republican,  like the majority in the House and Senate)  says the action center's bylaws prohibit the group from endorsing candidates.  "Our only function is to support and advocate for the NCSBA legislative agenda,"  he said.

Morgan said the action center will set up a web site soon.  Specific plans,  including how many lobbyists to hire and how heavily to mobilize for the limited 2014 short session,  remain to be drafted.  The nine-member action center board has met only once and will convene for a second time in November,  he said.

Teacher wants Wednesday walks of support

After reading one teacher's open letter to legislators,  Marie Calabro,  a fourth-grade teacher at Beverly Woods Elementary,  came up with her own plan to keep educators'  plight in legislators'  minds:  Walk to the Sidewalk Wednesdays.

Calabro

"Every Wednesday beginning on Aug. 28 and continuing until legislation has changed, every concerned teacher,  administrator,  parent,  student and citizen will walk to the sidewalks in front of every public school at precisely 5 p.m. and stand in solidarity and concern,"  Calabro proposes.  "Numbers and names will be collected,  tallied,  and sent to  (Gov.)  Pat McCrory,  (House Speaker Thom) Tillis,  and other state representatives along with a letter of concern. We will roar with a silent,  peaceful,  but forceful message that we love the children of North Carolina,  that we appreciate and revere the noble teaching profession,  that we are committed to higher levels of education for ourselves,  our students and our society.  However,  we are embarrassed to be teachers,  administrators,  parents,  students and citizens in the state of North Carolina in the year 2013, and we would like our state to move in the opposite direction in which it is going."

Like many other educators, Calabro is dismayed by the state's falling national ranking for teacher pay and by changes such as eliminating tenure and extra pay for advanced degrees.  Like many,  she thought about staging a walk-out from work.  But organizing a walk-out in a right-to-work state isn't a smart career move.  So she decided to follow Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools colleague Justin Ashley's approach to helping legislators see teachers as respectful and respectable neighbors.

"We will not be protesting during school hours or on school property,"  she said.  "We will not be screaming or yelling.  We will be peaceful,  hold signs, and stand firm in our belief that North Carolina can be,  once again,  at the top of the list for student achievement as well as teacher and parent satisfaction."

It's not a highly organized event.  Calabro encourages others who want to take part to contact her on Facebook.  She's hoping sidewalk Wednesdays will spread from her south Charlotte school to become a wider movement.