Free Republic

One of the most ambitious pay-for-performance initiatives in Washington area schools is drawing strong teacher interest and local union support even though many national labor leaders have long asserted that it is unfair to link teachers' paychecks directly to their students' test scores.... ...The program's criteria exclude some teachers from certain bonus pools. Half of the bonus money is tied to scores on state tests given in third through eighth grades and in high school: Up to $2,500 is won when the school meets test score targets, and up to $2,500 is given for improving a given class's scores. The...

In the tiny Hockinson School District, the budget gap is $250,000. For Vancouver Public Schools, the shortfall is more like $4 million, officials say. In the Evergreen district, it’s at least $1.6 million. Across Clark County and Washington state, school districts are feeling the pinch of a large cost-of-living pay hike for teachers and other workers, approved by state legislators earlier this year.

A New York City charter school set to open in 2009 in Washington Heights will test one of the most fundamental questions in education: Whether significantly higher pay for teachers is the key to improving schools. The school, which will run from fifth to eighth grades, is promising to pay teachers $125,000, plus a potential bonus based on schoolwide performance. That is nearly twice as much as the average New York City public school teacher earns, roughly two and a half times the national average teacher salary and higher than the base salary of all but the most senior teachers...

It would be wonderful if we knew more about teachers such as these and how to multiply their number. How do they come by their craft? What qualities and capacities do they possess? Can these abilities be measured? Can they be taught? Perhaps above all: How should excellent teaching be rewarded so that the best teachers - the most competent, caring and compelling - remain in a profession known for low pay, low status and soul-crushing bureaucracy?

Panel OKs bill on teachers' raises A Senate panel voted unanimously Thursday to approve a bill to raise state teachers' salaries to the national average. Senate Bill 267, sponsored by Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, would cost the state more than $400 million this year alone if it's approved. That doesn't include the local share, which would come down on cities and counties. SB 267 now goes to the Senate Finance Committee, where a tight budget year makes its passage unlikely. But Deeds, who has requested a budget amendment to accompany the measure, said the stated intent is what matters....

January 6, 2008 Dear xxxxxx, I think it safe to say that all were disappointed and angry to learn that Governor Kaine’s budget included no funds for a salary increase for teachers in the 2008-09 school year. The fact that the budget doubled the teacher licensure fees when we are getting no salary increase added insult to injury. Having said that, our energy, as this point is best directed at those who can amend the budget bill, your Delegate and your Senator. The Governor proposes and the General Assembly disposes. Our battle is uphill, but it is worth fighting. Even...

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) - Performance-based merit pay for teachers is a bad idea, Hillary Rodham Clinton told Iowa teachers on Monday. School uniforms for kids, however, is worth looking at. Merit pay for teachers "could be demeaning and discouraging, and who would decide" who would receive it, she said in a meeting with teachers at Cunningham Elementary. "It would open a whole lot of problems." Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner nationally, is in a tight race with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards in Iowa. Merit pay is a clear point of disagreement with Obama....

Thank you for contacting me regarding compensation for teachers. A sound public education system is an important step toward our goal that all children have an equal opportunity to learn, to succeed and to improve their futures. Quality teachers are essential for a successful public education system, and I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this matter. Educators should be rewarded for their unrelenting work to help our children succeed. In an effort to help hard-working teachers, I support measures giving states and local education agencies the funding needed to reward those closest to students. One such program,...

House votes to put teacher pay before tax cut By KELLEY SHANNON Associated Press Writer AUSTIN — The Texas House, faced with a decision on further reducing school property tax rates, gave tentative approval Thursday to a measure that would give teachers a $6,000 pay raise before the reduction could kick in. There's no money in the bill for the teacher pay raise, which also would apply to full-time librarians, counselors and school nurses. The leader of the Senate declared the raise proposal dead. Democratic Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco added the teacher pay provision, with the overwhelming approval of...

...systematic data on how much public school teachers are paid, relative to other white-collar professionals. [snip] Among the key findings of this report: According to the BLS, the average public school teacher in the United States earned $34.06 per hour in 2005. The average public school teacher was paid 36% more per hour than the average non-sales white-collar worker and 11% more than the average professional specialty and technical worker. Full-time public school teachers work on average 36.5 hours per week during weeks that they are working. By comparison, white-collar workers (excluding sales) work 39.4 hours, and professional specialty and...

A growing body of research shows teacher quality is the most important factor in academic progress Teacher quality matters, enormously. Dr. William Sanders, the leading researcher in the field of value-added assessment, explains, "Race, socioeconomic level, class size, and classroom heterogeneity are poor predictors of student academic growth. Rather, the effectiveness of the teacher is the major determinant of student academic progress." In other words, some teachers really do make all the difference. Dr. Sanders finds evidence that racial achievement gaps are strongly influenced by the distribution of effective teachers, writing, "African American students and white students with the same...

Myths aren't lies. They are beliefs that people adopt because they have an air of plausibility. But myths aren't true, and they often get in the way during serious problem-solving. This essay identifies seven common myths that dominate established views of education these days. Dispelling these misconceptions could open the door to long-awaited improvement in our nationÍs schools. The money myth If people know anything about public schools today, it's that they are strapped for cash. Bestselling books, popular movies, and countless lobbying groups portray urban schools as desperately underfunded, and editors of the New York Times write without fear...

One of the ongoing controversies in the public schools is the issue of teacher salaries. Teachers largely claim they are too low while taxpayers are equally vehement that they are more than adequate. (snip) Then there are the actual salary levels. Statistics in 2005 showed the average teacher salary in the nation was $46,762, ranging from a low of $33,236 in South Dakota to $57,337 in Connecticut. Even this ignores the additional compensation teachers receive as fringe benefits, which may add an additional 33% or more to the costs, primarily for very good retirement and health coverage plans. Further, averages...

More than a dozen D.C. public school system central office administrators are taking home base salaries of at least $150,000 per year, compared with just one official earning that much two years ago, according to an analysis of payroll records. The salary information, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, shows 14 central administration officials receiving a base pay of at least $150,000 in fiscal 2006, including five officials making $170,000 or more. By comparison, pay records approved by the Board of Education in July 2004 show only one administrator -- former interim Superintendent Elfreda Massie -- earning at least...

WINTER HAVEN -- The modern reality of teaching in Florida schools makes Bess Lott, a 32-year veteran, wonder whether she'd choose teaching as a career if she had it to do over. Constant paperwork, comparatively low pay and FCAT pressure are all headaches, said the third-grade teacher at Winter Haven's Snively Elementary School of Choice. But e-comp, the Department of Education's performance pay proposal, is the final straw, she said. "They're talking about our salaries," she said....

If you would like to know the 2005-06 individual salaries/benefits for the teachers and other staff in your school district, you can find them at the link below. The data is provided by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. It is organized in Excel spreadsheets or PDFs, alphabetically by district. The files may take a moment or two to load. Is it right to publish teacher salaries? Our decision to publish a database of salaries for public school teachers and other employees for the first time last year generated a fair amount of discussion on local blogs, including...

The combination of higher starting salaries and longer-serving educators has kept Arlington’s average teacher salary above all other Northern Virginia jurisdictions this year, and more than 40 percent higher than the average salary for teachers statewide and nationwide. The Arlington school system has budgeted for an average teacher salary of $66,308 for the current fiscal year, according to figures released Nov. 30 by the Virginia Department of Education. That’s up from $61,407 actually spent per teacher in the past school year, and up from $60,014 two years ago. Teachers with the most seniority and advanced degrees can earn upwards of...

<p>Headmasters of the Bay State's elite prep schools now command such high pay and perks, including low-interest home loans, that a few surpass the pay of some university and college heads.</p> <p>Article Tools Printer friendly Single page E-mail to a friend Education RSS feed Available RSS feeds Most e-mailed Reprints/permissions More: Globe Education stories | Education section | Globe front page | Boston.com Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts Pay packages that five years ago were still in the $200,000 range are leaping past the $300,000 mark at some schools, making Massachusetts headmasters among the highest-paid in the nation, according to federal financial records and the National Association of Independent Schools.</p>

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) has proposed a package of education reforms--including merit pay for some public school teachers--for consideration this fall by the Massachusetts legislature. At press time, the legislature's Joint Committee on Education was expected to hold hearings on the proposal by the end of the year. "If we're serious about keeping our kids at the forefront of a highly challenging and competitive world economy, then we have to take the necessary steps to energize our education system," Romney said in a September 22 statement accompanying the new education proposals. The package of education reforms includes a program...

The most-qualified Los Angeles Unified teachers work predominantly in schools serving high-income, white students, creating a "massive maldistribution of funds" at the expense of Latino and African-American students in poorer neighborhoods, a report released today says. The Education Trust-West said teachers in high-poverty Los Angeles elementary schools earn $1,589 less per year _ and those in high-poverty middle schools earn $1,826 less per year _ than their counterparts in more affluent areas. Teachers in low-income high schools, however, earn $159 a year more than their counterparts in higher-income schools, the study found. Similar salary gaps were found in the rest...

Pinellas is stingy with extra pay; Hillsborough's more generous. State officials insist that bonuses be paid everywhere. ...........Those who support performance pay say it's the existing system that makes no sense. "Every time there's more money on the table, everybody gets an equal share, regardless of their contribution or ability," Warford said. The public wants teachers to be paid more, "but I don't think they want to see every teacher paid more; the very best and the very worst."

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill is getting a $2,150 raise this fiscal year as a faculty committee reviews allegations against him including plagiarism. Churchill denies the allegations. Churchill was earning more than $114,000 a year until January, when he stepped down as chairman of the ethnic studies department following criticism for comparing World Trade Center victims to a Nazi. Then he earned a teaching salary of about $94,000. For the fiscal year that began Friday, Churchill will earn about $96,000 for a 2.3 percent increase. On average, faculty members on the Boulder campus are getting...

Nation's Largest Union Sets Goal of $40,000 Starting Salary for TeachersBy Ben Feller The Associated Press Published: Jul 3, 2005 LOS ANGELES (AP) -The typical starting salary for teachers should be $40,000, the head of the country's largest education union said Sunday, pledging a renewed fight for higher pay. But the National Education Association's challenge is enormous. Not a single state pays its new instructors an average of $40,000, with the U.S. average hovering close to $30,000 for beginning teachers, according to the American Federation of Teachers, another teachers union. NEA president Reg Weaver, speaking to reporters at the union's...

...But this noble sensibility ignores a crucial fact about the teaching profession in Westchester County: Teacher pay levels in Scarsdale, and several other districts in the county, are now high enough to constitute an entry ticket to upper-middle-class income and status. In Scarsdale, 166 teachers - nearly half - have base salaries exceeding $100,000; for more than a dozen, base pay tops $120,000. A study of teacher salaries across New York State found that as administrators and affluent parents compete to give their children every possible advantage, thousands of teachers in the New York suburbs now make six-figure salaries -...

Merit pay? Please. We can develop a fair system that helps students and teachers alike By Ari J. Kaufman and Aaron Hanscom Teachers at Shenandoah Street Elementary School in Los Angeles. Their blog is www.partialtranscripts.blogspot.com All teachers are saints, incapable of succumbing to the baser instincts of human nature like laziness, selfishness or ingratitude. Of course, this assertion is as verifiably false as the statement that all car salesmen are honest, gracious and industrious. While teaching is still viewed as a noble profession, Californians can be forgiven for viewing their children's educators in an increasingly suspicious light. Recent infighting among...

Sacramento -- The committee supporting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's package of ballot initiatives said Friday that it will not have enough signatures to put a proposal for teacher merit pay on a November special election ballot. Allan Zaremberg, co-chairman of Citizens to Save California, said the idea to pay teachers based on merit instead of seniority is "lagging behind a little bit." Zaremberg did announce that the committee began turning in signatures for the governor's budget reform proposal Friday. Signatures for the governor's two other initiatives -- changing when a teacher can receive tenure and how legislative districts are drawn --...

The Hawaii State Teachers’ Union (HSTA) is asking Hawaii teachers to ratify a new two-year contract Thursday, April 28, that will reward the HSTA’s upper echelon with the largest salary increases while cutting entry-level Class II teacher pay to $28,357 from the $35,486 won during negotiations last year. A computer assisted analysis shows the contract will allow teachers on Step 1 and 2 on the salary schedule to move up in 2006 after a year stuck at the lower pay scale. Some teachers believe the cut to new teacher pay is the unintended result of Superintendent Pat Hamamoto and HSTA...

It's only a 38-page document, but it determines how millions of tax dollars are spent, sets working conditions for 462 employees and indirectly affects the education of more than 5,500 students. Ridgewood's teachers contract is key in managing the school district's $70.7 million enterprise. And like any of the other 610 teacher pacts across the state, it is arguably the most powerful public document in town. More money from property tax bills goes to pay teachers and school support staff than any other group of local public employees in New Jersey. Funding for school districts makes up about 55 percent...

Texas House passes controversial plan to restructure public education ASSOCIATED PRESS AUSTIN (AP) - A sweeping plan to restructure education in Texas won tentative approval in the Texas House on Wednesday, despite criticism that a teacher pay raise is unfunded and $3 billion in new money is not enough. Opponents say the money won't keep up with inflation or cover new requirements schools would face under the plan. During two days of debate on the measure - the top priority of the current legislative session - the House leadership approved a teacher salary increase and additional funding for the mileage...

Group rallies for higher teacher salaries By Becky Orr rep6@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle CHEYENNE - Freya Butterfield says she would like to teach in Wyoming when she graduates this spring from the University of Wyoming. But she won't, because she can't, she said. "I'm not going to get paid enough," Butterfield said to a crowd of hundreds gathered Monday on the steps of the state Capitol. The group came in support of the Legislature providing more money for salaries for support staff and teachers. Many at the rally told emotional stories about low teacher salaries. They urged people...

February 3, 2005 Dear Education Activist, Now is the time to contact the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, your own Delegate, and your State Senator and ask them to keep the teacher salary increase in the state budget. Click here to find a pre-written letter to the Speaker, and to identify your Delegate and Virginia Senator and send them a pre-written letter. You can send the letters as they are, or add your own talking points and personlize your letter. Last week in response to Delegate Plum's resolution calling on Virginia's Governor's to move teacher salaries to the...

The union representative is angry about publication of salary, reimbursements and sick days amid contract talks. WRIGHT TWP. - Every Crestwood teacher's salary, tuition reimbursements and related pay hikes, plus accrued sick days will soon debut on the school district's Web site. School board member Gene Mancini Jr. said it's a way to inform the public as contract negotiations continue, but union representative John Holland called the move "offensive and irresponsible." "It's the public's right to know," said Mancini, who serves on the contract negotiation team. He said the board held a public session in November and next week's planned...

Montana ranked last in the nation for starting teachers' salaries and 47th for average teacher salaries, according to a survey by the American Federation of Teachers, which was released Thursday. The survey shows Montana's 10,427 public school teachers made an average of $35,754 in 2002-03. Starting teachers earned $23,052, according to the survey. The starting pay for teachers in Sidney's school district is $23,670 for the 2004-05 school year, said Doug Sullivan, Sidney's superintendent of schools. "Based on the salary ranking, our district was 76th out of 200. We not only recruit against other Montana towns, but we compete for...

As a nation, we're confused about how we see teachers. Most polls show that respect for the profession has risen in recent years, yet we have certain quietly entrenched ideas—that teaching is easy, that teachers get out at 3 p.m. every day—and these notions, all ludicrous, allow us to accept the injustice in teachers' dismally low salaries. We love teachers, we think they're saints, but most of us consider unavoidable the fact that they are underpaid and often have to work two or three extra jobs to maintain a middle-class existence.The latest statistics put the average teacher's salary at about...

The image of the underpaid schoolteacher who sacrifices life's riches for the sake of children still fits many educators but not all. Thanks in part to a decade of healthy pay raises and a system of incentives that rewards longevity and postgraduate studies, 1,943, or almost 2 percent, of Georgia's public school educators were paid $85,000 or more last year, according to salary data from the state Department of Education. Among that group, 81 principals had annual salaries that topped $100,000. "Georgia's average teacher pay rose more than 49 percent over the last 10 years, greatly outpacing national or regional...

Denver teachers have voted to embrace a new pay plan that would stop rewarding them for years on the job and start recognizing specific skills and achievements in the classroom. Approval from the teachers' union puts the closely watched plan into the hands of Denver voters, who will be asked in 2005 for a property-tax increase to pay for the $25 million annual cost. Members of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association supported the proposal, written as part of the teachers' contract, by a decisive 59 percent to 41 percent. About 2,700 of the union's 3,200 members cast ballots. The 70,000-student...

Schools chief Bonnie Copeland delayed classes for two hours Friday, prompted by fears that hundreds of angry teachers might hold a sick-out after rejecting a 3.5 percent pay cut proposed by city officials. "At this time we have 620 out who have called in sick today," schools spokeswoman Edie House said. "Our hardest hit area was the middle school area with 171 teachers out." During the vote Thursday, teachers received flyers urging them not to report to work Friday, and the system received more than 300 calls by Thursday evening. Union officials said they weren't supporting a sick-out and weren't...

Well, we ignited quite a little blaze on Sunday with our front page centerpiece story, didn't we? Reporter Patrick Ferrell's story on high school teacher salaries — headlined "Are area teacher salaries ahead of the curve?" — sparked some rather emphatic answers to the question by some readers Monday morning. One called for Ferrell's firing for writing what was perceived to be slanted and opinionated stories. (Which they definitely were not, by the way.) Another writer slammed the stories for not including elementary school teachers, who are on average paid far less than their counterparts in the high schools. Another...

How much is a job worth? What should we pay a coal miner, who goes deep into a rock shaft that can come crashing down at any moment? Or a soldier, who is prepared for a deadly combat eventuality at all times? What should we pay a major league baseball player, whose contribution to this world is that he can hit a rising fastball? Or a Hollywood actor, whose job is too look good while mouthing the words that someone else wrote? Does a company CEO, who makes tens of millions of dollars a year, work that much harder than...

<p>Public schools traditionally pay teachers based on how long they've been in the classroom rather than on how well they've taught their students. Now that seniority system faces a major challenge. Last week, New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein proposed promoting a "culture of excellence" by awarding merit bonuses to effective teachers.</p>

The Illinois high school teacher who shows students how to parallel park and use a rear-view mirror likely earns more than the educator who teaches them to solve quadratic equations or diagram a sentence. Occupying the "suicide seat" beside novice, adolescent drivers, full-time instructors last year had an average take-home pay of $64,503--surpassing that of virtually every other teaching assignment, according to a Tribune analysis of state data. Driver's ed also had one of the highest percentages of six-figure wage earners. More than 11 percent of high school driving teachers made at least $100,000, topping the rate of all but...

Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposed Wednesday staffing the state's most difficult schools with "super teachers'' who could earn up to $100,000 through bonuses. The teachers would have to give up such union protections as tenure, allowing them to be fired at will. The teachers also would have to be willing to let student test scores be a key factor in how much they're paid. In return, the teachers could reap some of the largest nonadministrative salaries in public K-12 education today. "We want flexibility in exchange for this turbocharged compensation package,'' the Republican governor said as he unveiled a new administration...

Juan Martinez can barely pay the bills, even with the income from his second job as a security guard. Now he hardly sees his family. Juan Carlos Martinez sits in a lonely Miami office tower late on a Sunday night, fighting back yawns as the rumble of passing trucks shake the empty building. He's miles from home, where he'd rather be, helping his children get ready for bed. But he needs this job as a weekend security guard. Martinez is a Miami-Dade teacher with a master's degree in education and ten years of experience. For that, he earns $38,050 a...

<p>Arizona teachers received a $2,000 pay raise in the 2001-02 school year, ranking 33 in the nation, inching up two spots from the year before, the American Federation of Teachers reported last week. The state's teachers average $38,500 a year, lagging about $6,000 behind the national average.</p>

<p>SCOTTSDALE - Two ambitious fourth-graders who launched a letter-writing campaign three weeks ago to save teachers' jobs have heard back from the Governor's Office and a lawmaker.</p> <p>Zuni Elementary School students Krizia Traverso and Carrie Dougher are still awaiting responses from the White House, the Scottsdale City Council and the Maricopa County superintendent of schools.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON -- The conventional view that public school teachers are woefully underpaid may be wrong, according to a new report by an expert on teacher pay.</p> <p>When salaries are computed on an hourly basis, public school teachers generally earn more than registered nurses, accountants, engineers and other middle-class workers, says Michael Podgursky, chairman of the University of Missouri's economics department and co-author of the 1997 book "Teacher Pay and Teacher Quality."</p>

<p>MESA - The poster's slogan "Full Funding for Public Schools" underscored the teachers' discontent, as many turned up at a Mesa School Board meeting Tuesday to bemoan the fact they would take home less pay next school year.</p> <p>"I'm here to tell you that you've lost me," said Westwood High School teacher Meredith Reynolds, "because when you take steps like this, you're telling us that we're the fat that needs to be cut."</p>

Facts will never win out over emotions and propaganda when it comes to public education and other important subjects, because money is no object when it takes a village to leave no kid behind in the New Economy, to borrow a couple of cliches from the left and right. In the event that you are interested in facts instead of cliches, listed below are some facts about teacher pay, government employment and the New Economy. I have yet to hear any national or local candidates for office addressing these issues. TEACHER PAY The conventional wisdom is that Arizona teachers are...