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Irregular News for 02.23.06
Miami, FL -- The Florida Board of Education unanimously approved Tuesday a plan that will grant bonuses to the state's top teachers, an assessment that will primarily be based on how their students perform on standardized tests and other measurements.
The plan, called Effective Compensation or E-Comp, was pushed by Education Commissioner John Winn, who wants it implemented in every district for the upcoming 2006-07 school year. It has been opposed by the state teachers union, the Florida Education Association, which says educators' pay should be improved overall before a bonus program is imposed. It is threatening to go to court to block the plan.
The plan requires districts to award bonuses of 5 percent or more to at least the top 10 percent of their teachers -- that's at least $2,000 for a teacher making $40,000 annually. Teachers who are in the top 10 percent one year and remain in the top 25 percent statewide the next would again receive a bonus.
The rankings will be based on how students perform on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which covers subjects such as reading, writing, math and science, or special exams or measurements for classes and grades not covered by FCAT. Alternative assessment methods will be also devised for special education teachers, counselors and others whose performance would be difficult or impossible to grade through a test. Bonuses would be denied teachers if they have been disciplined.
Teachers are now paid based primarily on their years of experience and their education.
Unlike FCAT, any additional exams will have no effect on graduation or promotion.
Winn estimates the bonuses will cost $53 million annually. A law requiring performance based pay was approved by the Legislature in 2002, but it has not been uniformly observed by the districts. Winn plans to enforce it more vigorously and could withhold millions of dollars from districts that refuse.
"We need to make sure our top teachers are being rewarded for their effort," said Jennifer Fennell, a Department of Education spokeswoman.
But the teachers union, which has filed an administrative complaint saying Winn lacks the authority to implement the plan, says there are several flaws with the program. First, the average Florida teacher makes $6,200 below the national average and $5,000 less than teachers in Georgia, said Mark Pudlow, the union's spokesman.
"With all teachers suffering because of low pay in a state with high growth in the cost of living, particularly in housing, (Winn's plan) is like putting a big screen TV in your living room and not fixing the hole in your roof," Pudlow said.
Union officials also say students' improvement is usually the result of several teachers working together, not just one, and that awarding only some teachers a bonus would destroy collegiality. They also question whether teachers who work at already high-performing and chronically low-performing schools will have an equal chance of earning bonuses.
They also don't think performance should be based on how students do on one test and they question the Legislature's desire to fund the bonus program for many years, which would mean already strapped local districts would have to come up with the money.
The local unions also have contracts with their districts that spell out how teachers are paid that would have to be amended. The union might challenge the plan in court if the administrative complaint is rejected.
Pudlow also said awarding bonuses to the top 10 percent is "arbitrary."
"Does anybody really believe that only 10 percent of Florida's teachers are outstanding?" he said.
source
Miami, FL -- The Florida Board of Education unanimously approved Tuesday a plan that will grant bonuses to the state's top teachers, an assessment that will primarily be based on how their students perform on standardized tests and other measurements.
The plan, called Effective Compensation or E-Comp, was pushed by Education Commissioner John Winn, who wants it implemented in every district for the upcoming 2006-07 school year. It has been opposed by the state teachers union, the Florida Education Association, which says educators' pay should be improved overall before a bonus program is imposed. It is threatening to go to court to block the plan.
The plan requires districts to award bonuses of 5 percent or more to at least the top 10 percent of their teachers -- that's at least $2,000 for a teacher making $40,000 annually. Teachers who are in the top 10 percent one year and remain in the top 25 percent statewide the next would again receive a bonus.
The rankings will be based on how students perform on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which covers subjects such as reading, writing, math and science, or special exams or measurements for classes and grades not covered by FCAT. Alternative assessment methods will be also devised for special education teachers, counselors and others whose performance would be difficult or impossible to grade through a test. Bonuses would be denied teachers if they have been disciplined.
Teachers are now paid based primarily on their years of experience and their education.
Unlike FCAT, any additional exams will have no effect on graduation or promotion.
Winn estimates the bonuses will cost $53 million annually. A law requiring performance based pay was approved by the Legislature in 2002, but it has not been uniformly observed by the districts. Winn plans to enforce it more vigorously and could withhold millions of dollars from districts that refuse.
"We need to make sure our top teachers are being rewarded for their effort," said Jennifer Fennell, a Department of Education spokeswoman.
But the teachers union, which has filed an administrative complaint saying Winn lacks the authority to implement the plan, says there are several flaws with the program. First, the average Florida teacher makes $6,200 below the national average and $5,000 less than teachers in Georgia, said Mark Pudlow, the union's spokesman.
"With all teachers suffering because of low pay in a state with high growth in the cost of living, particularly in housing, (Winn's plan) is like putting a big screen TV in your living room and not fixing the hole in your roof," Pudlow said.
Union officials also say students' improvement is usually the result of several teachers working together, not just one, and that awarding only some teachers a bonus would destroy collegiality. They also question whether teachers who work at already high-performing and chronically low-performing schools will have an equal chance of earning bonuses.
They also don't think performance should be based on how students do on one test and they question the Legislature's desire to fund the bonus program for many years, which would mean already strapped local districts would have to come up with the money.
The local unions also have contracts with their districts that spell out how teachers are paid that would have to be amended. The union might challenge the plan in court if the administrative complaint is rejected.
Pudlow also said awarding bonuses to the top 10 percent is "arbitrary."
"Does anybody really believe that only 10 percent of Florida's teachers are outstanding?" he said.
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