November 10th, 2015                     
Table of Contents
GSU Dean Provides Feedback
Committee Prioritizes Recommendations, Including Teacher Compensation
Evolution of Starting Teacher Salary Recommendation
Next Steps
Teacher Recruitment, Retention, and Compensation
November 9, 2015
 
GSU Dean Provides Feedback

The Education Reform Commission (ERC) Teacher Recruitment, Retention & Compensation committee met Nov. 9. Tom Koballa, dean of the College of Education at Georgia Southern University, walked through the committee's recommendations and provided feedback on several items. He particularly noted the recommendations related to teacher preparation and induction. He suggested tweaking the committee's preliminary recommendation regarding reinstating teacher loan reimbursement and suggested tying the reimbursement to teaching in Georgia's high-needs schools.  
Committee Prioritizes Recommendations, Including Teacher Compensation
  
Committee members worked to prioritize their recommendations as requested by the full ERC at its last meeting. They discussed the following teacher compensation recommendations, which are still preliminary, and may change before recommendation to the full ERC. The committee chose to prioritize the following recommendation.     
Develop guidance to assist districts in developing strategic compensation models for teachers. The guidance may include, but not be limited to the following tenets:
  • Allow currently employed educators to opt-in to new compensation system OR to remain on the current state salary schedule.
  • Consider the research on the lack of correlation between years of experience and many advanced degrees on student achievement.
  • Provide additional pay for high needs subjects and hard-to-staff schools
  • Provide additional pay for accepting additional responsibilities
  • Provide additional compensation for teachers who complete the requirements for Teacher Leader Certification
  • Provide opportunities for teachers to make higher salary levels earlier in their careers
  • Providing signing bonuses for hard-to-staff schools and/or high needs subjects
Notably, specific reference to the State Board of Education's development of teacher compensation models has been eliminated from the compensation model recommendation, opening the door to development of the guidance by other state agencies or actors.
Evolution of Starting Teacher Salary Recommendation
The committee engaged in considerable debate about its evolving recommendation regarding raising teacher salaries, which all committee members seem to agree should be raised to attract high-quality professionals. At previous meetings, the committee discussed raising the minimum teacher salary from about $35,000 to around $40,000, which would make Georgia's starting teacher salary more competitive with other states. After preliminary cost estimates indicated that raising the starting salary would be very expensive and would have profound implications on the salaries of existing Georgia teachers, the committee backed away from recommending a number. Instead, the recommendation showed up in the TRR&C report at the Oct. 22 full ERC meeting as follows:

Increase the amount of the base teacher salary.

At that Oct. 22 meeting, ERC Chairman Dr. Charles Knapp requested that the TRR&C committee review the recommendation again. The recommendation was edited by ERC staff and showed up in TRR&C material at the Nov. 9s meeting as follows:

Increase k-12 educational funding which will allow local districts to recruit, retain, and reward the most effective teachers and will allow local districts to pay the beginning teacher's national average salary to Georgia's beginning teachers.

Today TRR&C members discussed the tension between the ERC'S movement away from state articulation of teacher salaries and expenditure controls on local school districts and toward block grant funding to local districts from which the districts would pay teachers using locally-developed compensation systems. Several committee members expressed concern about whether the intention of the TRR&C to raise beginning Georgia teacher salaries would actually be initiated at the local school district level. Ultimately, the committee settled on the following, which may change yet again before the next full ERC meeting.

Increase k-12 educational funding which will allow local districts to recruit, retain, and reward the most effective teachers and will allow Georgia to pay the beginning teacher's national average salary to Georgia's beginning teachers. 
Next Steps
 
The TRR&C prioritized the committee's other recommendations and committee Chair Pam Williams mentioned that she hopes to publish the prioritized recommendations well before the next full ERC meeting on Nov. 19. The ERC is expected to vote on the TRR&C recommendations at the November meeting.

Stakeholders are encouraged to contact the ERC regarding TRR&C proposals and other ERC recommendations. As always, educators should use their personal email accounts outside of instructional time when doing so.  

Margaret Ciccarelli - Director of Legislative Affairs


          


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