November 3rd, 2015                     
Table of Contents
More on School Funding & Teacher Compensation
Will Education Austerity Cuts Be Made Permanent?
Teacher Compensation Changes
Next Steps & Proposed Action
Funding Committee of the Education Reform Commission Meeting
October 28th, 2015
 
More on School Funding & Teacher Compensation
Last week, the Governor's Education Reform Commission (ERC) Funding Committee met at the state Capitol to review preliminary recommendations regarding school funding and teacher compensation. Read PAGE'S report from the meeting HERE.

The ERC Funding Committee plans to meet once more before the next full ERC meeting on Nov. 19. The ERC is expected to vote on the Funding Formula and teacher compensation changes at the Nov. 19 meeting.

The ERC'S proposed funding formula narrative is available HERE.

The spreadsheet showing how individual school districts will fare is available HERE. Be sure to click on the "Systems Earnings" Tab.  
HERE
Will Education Austerity Cuts Be Made Permanent?

Though some reports from the Funding Committee indicate that all but nine school districts stand to gain from the new proposed formula (see the AJC'S preliminary report HERE), it is very important for education stakeholders to understand that the proposed addition of $235 million does not eliminate ongoing education cuts that continue to pinch budgets at the local level. Since school austerity began almost a decade ago, local communities have been forced to shorten the school year, suspend student programs, furlough teachers, and increase local property taxes. If the new funding formula is predicated on Georgia's FY 2016 K-12 budget - even with the addition of $235 million - schools will continue to suffer. The existing school funding formula (QBE) will be underfunded by $231 million. School sparsity will be underfunded by $14.5 million, and pupil transportation will be underfunded by $180.5 million.

See the chart from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute below.



Balancing the compelling interests represented in the state budget is a challenging task. Policymakers would be hard pressed to fully end austerity cuts in one fiscal year by adding back funding beyond the $235 million proposed at the last Funding Committee meeting. However, ERC members and state legislators who will ultimately vote on the ERC recommendations should lay out a plan to end austerity over the next several years. Making ongoing school austerity cuts permanent by building them in to the new funding formula is a grave mistake.
Teacher Compensation Changes
The Funding Committee is also considering major changes to teacher compensation. Educator pay represents the biggest cost in the state K-12 budget, so the proposed changes will have a serious impact on state coffers, local school district budgets, and individual Georgia educators. 

The Funding Committee envisions a system which pushes teacher compensation decisions down to the local district level. Under existing Georgia law, IE2/Strategic Waiver Districts and Charter School Systems can already deviate from Georgia's current method of compensating educators based on training and years of experience (T&E). All but two Georgia school districts have chosen IE2/Strategic Waiver or Charter System governance models. Only Marietta City and Fulton County, both Charter Systems, have started redesigning compensation, and they received additional support and funding to do so under the federal Race to the Top program.

Funding Committee members have expressed the strong desire at several meetings that current Georgia teachers have the option of staying on the existing T&E compensation system if the educators so choose. Under the proposed Funding Committee recommendations, new Georgia educators, at a date yet to be determined, would be placed on a new locally-adopted compensation system, which must include a teacher pay-for-performance component. More detail on the proposed compensation models is available HERE.
Next Steps & Proposed Action
The ERC Funding Committee will meet again on Nov. 12. Educators and concerned stakeholders should contact both the ERC and their House and Senate members now regarding proposed ERC recommendations since state legislators will ultimately vote on most ERC recommendations. As always, educators should use their personal email accounts outside of instructional time when contacting policymakers.

Educators and other stakeholders should share, in a constructive and respectful tone, personal narratives describing how proposed ERC recommendations (more HERE on recs from the other ERC committees) will impact them and the students they serve. PAGE is recommending the following items to the ERC Funding Committee which may be of interest and assistance to stakeholders who communicate with the ERC and state legislators.

The ERC Should:

Reiterate that the addition of $235 million is a good starting point to end ongoing school austerity cuts. Cuts should not be built into the new education funding formula. Policymakers should close the gap on austerity over the next 2-3 fiscal years.    

The ERC report should clearly state that the ERC did not investigate the actual cost of educating Georgia students and that the ERC'S work was intended to redistribute existing school funding and add transparency to the funding formula.

Meet with representatives from the nine school districts (Burke, Coffee, Crisp, Floyd, Haralson, Lumpkin, Tattnall, Worth, and Gainesville City) earning less under the proposed funding formula to explain why the districts will earn less and what will happen when hold harmless funds expire.

Consider the impact of ongoing austerity reduction on teacher compensation redesign. If local districts pay current teachers at current levels and must design or adopt compensation models that include pay-for-performance for future Georgia educators, how will local districts afford to retain current teachers and attract new effective teachers?

Recommend a review of Georgia teacher recruitment and retention data after implementation of ERC compensation changes are implemented. Enrollment in Georgia's teacher preparation programs is down 16 percent. The ERC should recommend that Georgia policymakers convene to formally review recruitment and retention numbers to ensure that ERC reforms, once implemented, have the desired effect.   

ERC proposed language regarding the "grandfathering" of current Georgia educators under existing T&E guidelines does not assure that existing teachers will continue to be compensated under the existing T&E structure. All but two Georgia school districts can deviate from T&E under existing IE2/Strategic Wavier and Charter System laws.

Ensure that practicing classroom educators are involved in the development of teacher compensation models created by GaDOE and that no compensation model require that TKES and LKES, which rely too heavily on standardized testing, serve as the effectiveness measure for employee compensation.  

Margaret Ciccarelli - Director of Legislative Affairs


          


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