November 23rd, 2015                     
Table of Contents
ERC Votes on Final Recommendations Including Teacher Pay Changes
Funding Committee
More Information on Teacher Pay Changes
Teacher Recruitment, Retention, and Compensation Recommendations
SLO Changes from Move on When Read
Early Childhood Enhancements Strengthen Pre-K
Committee Votes Down Several School Choice Committee Recs
PAGE Comments to the ERC
Thanks Due
What's Next? Contact Legislators & Governor's Office Now
Governor's Education Reform Commission
Final Report

November 19th, 2015
 
ERC Votes on Final Recommendations Including Teacher Pay Changes
The Governor's Education Reform Commission (ERC) met on Nov. 19th and voted on final education funding and policy recommendations which will now move to Gov. Deal for his consideration.

The commission's final recommendations are available HERE. Read the AJC'S coverage HERE.
Funding Committee: QBE Out, Additional Dollars Promised, Teacher Compensation Reform

The commission passed its centerpiece recommendation, a new school funding formula, with no dissenting votes. The student-based funding proposal will partially restore ongoing austerity cuts by $258 million, and ERC members requested that the $209 million necessary to end ongoing austerity cuts be added into the funding formula as state resources allow. It is important for all stakeholders to understand that the $209 million austerity restoration is not a given, and that advocacy must continue to ensure schools have adequate resources to serve students.

As part of its school reform overhaul, the vote on the funding formula also served as a vote to change Georgia's teacher training and experience (T & E) pay system and to require local school districts to develop teacher compensation plans for new teachers that include pay-for-performance. Veteran teachers may opt in to the plan, unless their school districts move all teachers onto the plan as part of their charter system or IE2/SWSS governance plan. All but two Georgia school districts are in the process of becoming or already are charter systems or IE2/SWSS and therefore, can redesign compensation and deviate from T & E for new and veteran teachers should the systems choose.
More Information on Teacher Pay Changes
For more information on teaching compensation, review the flow charts PAGE has created HERE and HERE.

Review the ERC'S teacher compensation narrative on pages 17-19  HERE.

Teacher Recruitment, Retention, and Compensation Recommendations
Increasing the starting salary for Georgia teachers and the following teacher compensation provisions were the Teacher Recruitment, Retention, and Compensation (TRR&C) Committee's top priorities approved by the ERC:

Develop guidance to assist districts in developing strategic compensation models for teachers. The guidance may include, but not be limited to the following tenets:
  • Provide the opportunity for teacher involvement in the creation of strategic compensation models at the district levels;
  • Allow currently employed teachers to opt in to the new compensation systems OR remain on the current state salary schedule;
  • Refrain from using level of degree as a significant determinant of compensation increases. Instead, consider reimbursing teachers for the costs of pursuing advanced degrees;
  • Provide additional pay and/or signing bonuses 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 career
Other TRR&C recommendations moved forward by the ERC include:
  • Provide grants to support districts in developing strong teacher induction programs. Charter systems and strategic system contracts should include a description of how they will provide support for Induction level teachers.
  • Keep as a top priority of the education community the preservation of teacher planning time. To monitor implementation, the climate survey for LKES should be amended to include a question related to how well principals protect teacher planning time.
  • Encourage the General Assembly and State Board of Education to implement the following guidelines to promote the best use and respect of teacher's instructional time: 1. Return to a "normal" curricular adoption cycle, and maintain a high bar before implementing major changes outside a 6 year cycle. 2. Apply a high bar of consideration to any legislation and/or rules that adds new requirements, training, or job functions for educators. Repeal or sunset rules /requirements when not needed. 3. Encourage regional and state-wide collaboration to make SLO assessments more consistent within the state. 4. Support full implementation of the teacher career ladder and participation in the top levels of the Tiered Certification model.
  • Investigate a sustainable state-level funding program for providing compensation to classroom teachers for supervising Teacher Interns.
  • Modify the implementation of Teacher Keys Effectiveness System (TKES) to allow fewer required classroom observations for effective teachers after a baseline of effectiveness has been established.
  • Develop and implement a statewide media campaign to promote the positive aspects of teaching as a profession.
  • Require a study of the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) of Georgia to determine if small changes should be made for new educators, or if new alternatives should be implemented for new educators, as a way to minimize the probability of reduced solvency for existing teachers 10 to 15 years from now. Note that no changes are recommended to TRS for existing members. It is recognized that TRS is currently rated as one of the strongest educator retirement systems in the country.
  • Investigate the benefit of re-instituting the service cancellable loan programs for students graduating from a University System of Georgia (USG) teacher education program.
  • Reimburse the costs of the required GACE exams and edTPA which pre-service teachers incur while enrolled in a teacher preparation program of the University System of Georgia.
  • Study the benefits of replacing a single semester student teaching model with a full year of clinical practice for teacher candidates.
SLO Changes from Move on When Ready
The ERC Move on When Ready (MOWR) Committee recommended changes to controversial Student Learning Objectives (SLO) as part of its package. MOWR recommendations approved by the ERC include:
  • Develop and implement multiple formative assessments in literacy and numeracy for students in grades K-3 which would serve the function of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) in those grades, and extend these assessments to grades 4 and 5 numerical fluency once K-3 is in place.
  • Begin the transition to a competency-based education system.
  • Develop a pathway that allows students to receive both a high school diploma and a "Job Ready" designation in a high demand field. This action would rapidly expand Senate Bill 2 to include several high demand industry certification fields.
  • Increase opportunity for advancement or remediation of students through flexible Georgia Milestones testing available throughout the calendar school year, preferably every nine weeks.
  • Increase the number of high school students earning postsecondary credentials and degrees through intense professional development for both high school and postsecondary teachers.
Early Childhood Enhancements to Strengthen Pre-K
As the ERC voted to move away from T & E for K-12 teachers, the Early Childhood ERC recommendations moved toward T & E as a way to improve teacher quality in the wake of Pre-K salary reductions and teacher departures. Highlights from the Early Childhood recs approved include:
  • Develop and implement a pay structure for Pre-Kindergarten lead teachers based on experience and teacher credential.
  • Increase the pay for Georgia's Pre-Kindergarten assistant teachers.
  • Reduce the Pre-Kindergarten class size from 22 students to 20 students. Each class of 20 students would continue to be staffed with a lead teacher and an assistant teacher.
  • Increase the start-up funds for new Georgia's Pre-Kindergarten classes from $8,000 to $12,000 and increase operating costs by 5 percent to 8 percent.
Committee Votes Down Several School Choice Committee Recs
The School Choice Committee's recommendations were the only proposals which encountered open resistance from ERC members in Thursday's meeting. Recommendations to create two new expensive school voucher programs failed, and several of the charter-related proposals generated heated discussion and narrowly passed. The successful school choice proposals included changes to broaden and clarify existing laws allowing unused public schools to be used as charter schools and changes to charter school authorizer law.
PAGE Comments to the ERC

After the commission voted on recommendations, public comment began. Several speakers, including John Palmer from TRAGIC, shared feedback regarding the recommendations including concerns about changes to teacher compensation.


PAGE Director of Legislative Affairs, Margaret Ciccarelli, addressed the committee regarding over-emphasis on student testing and the impact on teacher evaluation and compensation. She described the impact of ongoing austerity cuts to Georgia students and teachers.
Thanks Due:

PAGE would like to thank several of the ERC commission chairs for allowing PAGE to provide educator feedback: Pam Williams, Chair of the Teacher Recruitment, Retention, and Compensation Committee; Amy Jacobs, Chair of the Early Childhood Committee; Matt Arthur, Chair of the Move on When Ready Committee, and Charles Knapp, Chair of the Funding Committee.

In particular, thanks are due to Funding Committee members who advocated strongly to strengthen schools by adding more financial resources to the funding formula: Rep. Terry England (R-Auburn), Rep. Tom Dickson (R-Cohutta), Sen. Jack Hill (R-Reidsville), and Sen. Lindsey Tippins (R-Marietta). Thanks are also due to key ERC members who joined others to vote against costly expansion of private school voucher programs: Rep. Brooks Coleman (R-Duluth), columnist Dick Yarbrough, co-founder of Young Professionals for Education Equity Hunter Pierson, and several of the superintendents on the commission.
What's Next? Contact Legislators & Governor's Office Now

The final ERC recommendations will now be transmitted to Gov. Deal, who will review the package and consider which proposals to move forward and what legislative strategy to employ. Stakeholders should prepare for all the ERC recommendations to come through the 2016 General Assembly, which convenes in January.

As such, PAGE encourages educators and all stakeholders to contact the Governor's Office and their House and Senate members (use your home address to look up your elected officials and their contact information HERE) to discuss the ERC proposals. As always, educators use their personal email accounts outside of instructional time when contacting policymakers.   

When contacting policymakers, educators should consider sharing information about how the ERC recommendations may impact them and their students and should provide suggestions to improve the ERC recommendations which need it. Review PAGE'S most recent detailed recommendations to ERC regarding funding and teacher compensation HERE. The changes recommended by PAGE still need to be made as the ERC package moves forward.

Margaret Ciccarelli - Director of Legislative Affairs


          


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