|
|
9486 in the collection
Social Bookmarking: Many Texas school districts reject merit pay for teachers
Ohanian Comment: As a news story, this seems to be merely an issue of where the money is coming from. We don't hear much from people who worry about what such a system does the profession of teaching--or what used to be a profession.
By Terrence Stutz
AUSTIN – More than 100 school districts have changed their minds and dropped out of Texas' new merit pay plan for teachers – leaving just a third of the districts in the state to help launch the $148 million program next year.
The decision by so many districts to bail out of the plan – mostly because of financial concerns – means there will be more money for the districts that are staying in.
For example, the Dallas school district will get almost $1 million extra for a total of nearly $8.2 million.
Districts decide how to distribute the money, but the recommended minimum bonus is $3,000.
In all, nine districts in Dallas County will participate in the District Awards for Teacher Excellence, approved by the Legislature to financially reward the state's best teachers.
Other large districts in the Dallas area that have signed up for the program are Arlington, Fort Worth and Plano.
One district that first decided to participate and then pulled out recently was Grapevine-Colleyville, which will forgo a $650,000 grant from the state.
Karen Moxley, an English teacher at Cross Timbers Middle School and the president of the Grapevine-Colleyville Education Association, said the district was concerned about language in program rules that suggested school officials should be prepared to pay the bonuses with local funds in the future.
"When they looked at what it would take to be eligible for the program and the fact that state funds could not be guaranteed in future years, they had second thoughts," Ms. Moxley said of her district's decision to not participate. "It just wasn't a good fit for our district."
Megan Overman, a spokeswoman for the district, said officials "spent a lot of time researching the program and the impact it could potentially have on our district."
In the end, she noted, it came down to two questions: "Whether this program would support the culture of our district, and what are the financial issues related to the matching funds requirement and the uncertainty of continued funding from the state."
Since there were concerns about both, the district opted out.
Since last fall, superintendents have complained about a decision by state Education Commissioner Robert Scott to require that districts put up a 15 percent match to receive a state grant under the DATE program.
In Dallas' case, that means about $1.1 million in local funds or in-kind contributions.
Mr. Scott has said the match is a relatively small amount of the total and gives school districts an investment in the program.
But many local school officials said their budgets are too tightly drawn to be able to give up the dollars.
They also note the possibility that state funds may diminish or disappear if state revenues drop sharply as they did five years ago when the Legislature enacted broad cutbacks in state programs to erase a $10 billion deficit.
"There is a lot of concern about future funding increases that school districts may not get," said Cindy Clegg of the Texas Association of School Boards, referring to the state guidelines cautioning that districts may eventually have to fund the incentive payments on their own.
"It takes a lot of time and effort to put a plan like this together," she said. "Until there is a clear commitment and some funding stability, you are going to see districts approach this tentatively."
Debbie Ratcliffe, a spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, said funding is contingent on future appropriations from the Legislature, and school districts should approach the merit pay plan with that in mind.
"We wish we could predict long-term funding for our programs, but when the Legislature operates on a two-year budget, we cannot guarantee anything longer than that," she explained.
Ms. Ratcliffe said the program is voluntary and districts have the right to not participate.
Still, she added, "This is something that can put thousands of extra dollars in their teachers' paychecks. That is one of many reasons they should consider participating."
She also pointed out that some districts are already operating their own merit pay plans and said they may prefer to keep their money in those rather than join the state's program.
The DATE program and a companion merit pay plan aimed at rewarding teachers in schools with a high percentage of low-income children make up the largest teacher merit pay program in the state.
The twin plans were part of the school reform package adopted by the Legislature in a special session on education in the spring of 2006.
Among the 336 districts that will be offering DATE bonuses next year are the 10 largest districts in the state – including Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and Arlington.
Those districts all will receive sizable grants under the program and would have found it difficult to turn down such a sum.
"It's hard for the bigger districts to turn down millions of dollars no matter how they feel about the program," said Richard Kouri of the Texas State Teachers Association, which has been critical of both merit pay plans.
Mr. Kouri said he was not surprised that two-thirds of the districts in the state have decided not to get into the DATE program.
"When they looked at the requirements and anticipated costs, many decided it wasn't how they wanted to spend their money and their time," he said. "Some districts decided not to do it because it hinges on a single standardized test, and many educators are beginning to question whether high-stakes tests should be the end-all and be-all of education in this state."
Ms. Moxley said teachers in the Grapevine-Colleyville district were unenthusiastic about introducing merit pay there.
"Nobody wanted to turn the money down, but we felt this would have pitted teacher against teacher," she said.
After Dallas, the next largest grant in Dallas County is scheduled to go to Garland at $2.9 million, up $300,000 from last fall's estimate.
Arlington is in line to receive almost $3.2 million and Plano nearly $2.8 million.
Legislative leaders, meanwhile, said they remain committed to the program and believe it will yield results in the classroom as districts come up with locally designed merit pay plans that reward the best teachers for their efforts.
"We're trying to find the best and fairest ways to reward teacher performance," said Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, who is chairman of the House Public Education Committee Chairman.
TEXAS' MERIT PAY PLANS FOR TEACHERS
A look at the two plans that make up Texas' teacher merit pay program, the largest in the nation:
DATE: District Awards for Teacher Excellence program begins next year and is open to all schools. The grants require a local match.
•Recommends a $3,000 bonus per teacher and is designed to provide enough money to reward nearly 50,000 teachers, one of every six in Texas, for improved test scores and other signs of student achievement.
TEEG: Texas Educator Excellence Grant program, it is in its second year and is for teachers in schools with a high percentage of low-income children. No local match is required.
•Involved an estimated 52,000 teachers at 1,148 campuses last year and gave average maximum bonuses of $2,263, far less than the $3,000 to $10,000 range recommended by the Legislature.
— Terrence Stutz
Dallas Morning News
2008-03-10
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/031008dntexmeritpay.3b2de6e.html
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
|
