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Education Reform Commission
October 22, 2015
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ERC Winds Down Work on Teacher Pay, School Funding, & Other Reforms
The Governor's Education Reform Commission met Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015. The five committees presented progress reports to fellow commission members. The complete PowerPoint from the meeting is available HERE.
Dr. Charles Knapp, former UGA president and chair of both the full ERC and the ERC Funding Committee, opened the meeting by outlining what he hopes the next two months will hold for the commission: the ERC will vote on school reform recommendations at the next scheduled meeting in November, the votes will be unanimous, and the final ERC meeting scheduled for December will allow the commission members to celebrate their hard work as the ERC recommendations are transmitted to the Governor.
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Funding Formula Missing
The presentation of the Funding Committee is contained in the single slide below which appears to contain an error regarding the date of the next Funding Committee meeting. The Funding Committee's last meeting was cancelled, and the committee is slated to meet again on Oct. 28th. The committee's work is central to the ERC, as critical pieces such as teacher compensation (including T & E and pay-for-performance elements) and a new student-based school funding formula are moving through the funding committee.
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Recommendations a Mixed Bag
During group discussion regarding the other committee reports, commission members appeared to reach an informal consensus that committees should return to the November ERC meeting with a ranking of their recommendations. The PowerPoint with all recommendations is available HERE. Highlights of the recommendations presented today include: School Choice- Create a new school voucher program by enacting a new Student Scholarship Organization tax credit program available to low-income students. (Georgia's existing SSO program does not currently apply a means test eligibility requirement.)
- Clarify charter school facilities law.
- Articulate framework for another new voucher program, the Education Savings Account (ESA) plan, should the legislature opt to pursue ESA legislation, though stopping short of actually recommending ESA's.
Early Childhood- Develop and implement a pay structure for Pre-K lead teachers based on experience and teacher credential, while developing other compensation models based on teacher effectiveness that would be feasible and reliable across multiple program types.
- Increase Pre-K assistant teacher pay.
- Reduce the Pre-K class size from 22 students to 20 students.
Move on When Ready- Ensure students are reading on grade level by the end of third grade by replicating components of Georgia's Early Literacy Grant throughout the state and allow flexible grouping across grade levels as students show competence of skills.
- Transition to a competency-based education system.
- Increase opportunity for advancement or remediation for students through flexible testing throughout the calendar school year.
Teacher Recruitment, Retention & Compensation - What Will Happen With Base Pay?
Appling County educator and ERC Teacher Recruitment, Retention & Compensation committee chair Pam Williams presented recommendations on behalf of her committee, including: - No changes should be made to the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) of Georgia for current members. It is noted that more study of the system and potential future changes is warranted.
- Investigate a state-based funding program to allow compensation of classroom instructors who supervise teacher interns.
- Study the possibility of creating a Service Cancellable Loan program for education graduates of the University System of Georgia, and should recognize teaching as a High Demand Workforce Initiative in Georgia.
- Keep as a top priority of the education community the preservation of teacher planning time. To monitor implementation, the climate survey for LKES should have a question related to how well principals protect teacher planning time.
- Develop multiple sample teacher compensation models from which districts may choose.
- Modify the Teacher Keys Effectiveness Systems to allow for flexibility in implementation, including fewer classroom observations for the most effective teachers.
- Develop strong induction programs and encourage teacher mentorship programs in all charters and strategic contracts. Grants should be made available to districts which communicate a clear and consistent program of induction support.
- Respect teachers' instructional time by minimizing the number of additional requirements beyond instruction.
- Develop a reimbursement system for costs incurred by GACE exams and edTPA for pre-service educators who graduate from the University System of Georgia and sign a contract to teach in a Georgia school.
- Study the benefits of moving to a full-year clinical practice model for those pursuing a degree in education from the University System of Georgia, as opposed to a single semester student teaching model.
- Create a statewide media campaign to promote the positive and beneficial aspects of the teaching profession.
One additional committee recommendation, to "increase the amount of the base teacher salary" generated an interesting exchange between Ms. Williams and ERC Chair Dr. Knapp. During the TRR&C committee's work over the last few months, committee members expressed strong interest in raising the base starting salary of Georgia teachers from around $35,000 to $40,000 in order to recruit high quality teachers. The recommendation to the full ERC today stopped short of recommending a dollar amount, which Dr. Knapp said would cost more than $200 million to fully implement. He requested that the TRR&C committee continue to review the starting salary recommendation, and described his request as a "strategic punt."
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PAGE Addresses the ERC re: Teacher Pay, Austerity Cuts, & the Funding Model
At the conclusion of the meeting, Lisa-Marie Haygood, state president of Georgia PTA, addressed the commissioners and requested that they examine the actual costs of educating Georgia students (which has not been part of the ERC'S work, thus far), that they address growing class sizes, pupil transportation needs, and teacher compensation.
PAGE Director of Legislative Affairs, Margaret Ciccarelli, also spoke during the public comment portion of the ERC meeting. She pointed out to commission members that, since public comment has been allowed at the conclusion of each ERC meeting, Thursday's meeting was the last opportunity for stakeholders to provide public comment on the ERC recommendations, including the funding formula which has not yet been published.
Ciccarelli also encouraged commission members to allow local school districts an opportunity to run models of the new school funding formula before voting and to rethink the impact of proposed changes to teacher compensation for existing and future Georgia educators.

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Next Steps
The full ERC will meet again on Nov. 19th from 2-4 pm in the DECAL Oak Conference Room, Sloppy Floyd Building, Suite 824, East Tower.
Stakeholders are strongly encouraged to contact the ERC now regarding their opinions on ERC recommendations. As always, when contacting policymakers outside of instructional time, educators should use their personal, not school, email accounts.
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Margaret Ciccarelli - Director of Legislative Affairs
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PAGE's core business is to provide professional learning for educators that will enhance professional competence and confidence, build leadership qualities and lead to higher academic achievement for students, while providing the best in membership, legislative and legal services and support |
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