May 11, 2010
Governor announces education bills
The Governor announced his agenda for the special session beginning on Thursday. While we have yet to see the actual bills, our first impression is that the Governor’s education initiatives are underwhelming. AFT-WV recognizes that there are problems with public education that must be addressed and stands ready to solve those problems. However, AFT-WV believes there are better solutions than what has been proposed. AFT-WV does not believe we should let the incentive of one-time funds (that equate to less than 1% of the education budget) drive education policy. Even though the bills have not been made public, we have reviewed a synopsis of the proposed legislation. Based on this, here is what we know.
I. Salary incentives.
The bill establishes salary supplement for teachers:
Employed in a school with a high poverty or high minority student population - $1,000;
Employed in a documented statewide area of shortage in math and science and employed in a school with a high poverty or high minority student population - $500.
Who meet goals for student growth during the previous year - $1,000;
Principals will receive a $1,000 supplement each for high poverty/high minority and for the school meeting goals for student growth, similarly determined.
For teachers, compensation may be offered to include special supervisory assignments, placement in a documented area of shortage, placement in a school with a high poverty or high minority student population, and attainment of goals for student growth the previous year based on multiple measures. AFT-WV is opposed to merit pay. We will know more when we see the actual language of the bill.
II. Charter innovation zone 2.0 schools.
This bill provides for the creation of public charter schools, either through the conversion of existing schools into charter schools or through the creation of new schools, that are part of the public education system and county in which they are located. The bill includes the following provisions:
No cap on the number of charter schools;
Charter schools are governed by a council and operated under the terms set forth in a charter between the council and the authorizer;
WV Code §18A-2-7 (assignment, transfer, dismissal, etc., of employees by county superintendent) and §18A-4-7a, 7b, 8 and 8b (employment, promotion, transfer, seniority of professional and service personnel and service personnel class titles) is not waived.
Potential areas of autonomy include:
Determining a learning model aligned with the objectives of the WVDOE
Determining a curriculum, professional development and formative assessments;
Recommending selection of classroom teachers;
Minimum 80% approval by secret ballot of affected employees,
Membership of the school site-based management council is determined by the school, must be set forth in the application, must be comprised of a majority of teachers and must include a non-voting ex-officio representative of the county superintendent.
Charter employees are employees of the county board. Employees regularly employed at a charter school or school applying to become one and whose job duties may be affected, may request a transfer to another school in the district.
Students are selected through a lottery if applicants exceed the number of available slots;
County Boards are the fiscal agent;
OEPA monitors charter schools for student performance;
State Board is the “authorizer” of the charter school.
AFT-WV is not blindly opposed to charter schools. However, AFT-WV will never support any legislation that takes away employee rights under WV code 18a, or takes money away from low income students.
III. Alternative principal and teacher certification.
Under the bill, the State Board of Education would provide alternative routes for teachers and principals to achieve certification. The bill also creates a new alternative route to principal certification and allows instruction for teachers in areas such as student assessment, classroom management, special education and diversity, etc., to be delivered through professional development equivalent to the currently required 18 semester hours in these subjects from a college or university. AFT-WV does not support legislation that allows principals to serve without classroom experience or promotes employment of teachers without proper training.
IV. Annual evaluations for all professional personnel.
This would take effect July 1, 2011. The Department’s Teacher Evaluation Task Force is working on a plan and should be allowed to complete its task. In addition, according to RTTT scoring, teacher evaluations are to be linked to student performance on standardized tests. AFT-WV will not support linking teacher evaluations to student performance on standardized tests.
V. Teacher empowerment teams.
This bill would allow schools (that meet certain conditions) to replace their LSICs and school curriculum teams with “collaborative teams”. The purpose of these teams would be to focus on the needs for the particular school. To establish a collaborative team, approval of 80% of the faculty senate by secret ballot, 80% of the LSIC, and the county superintendent and board are required. The bill would allow the State Board to grant waivers of state code. AFT-WV does not support granting increased power to the State Board and will object to a bill that reduces parental involvement.
VI. Teacher hiring.
This bill was a major component of the Governor’s 21st Century Jobs Cabinet. It replaces the current system whereby new employees and those already employed are judged by two different criteria (each with 7 criteria) and replaces the two lists with a single list of seven qualifications for hiring all professional personnel. For classroom teachers, the criteria are to be equally weighted. In addition, the bill provides that the most qualified candidate must be interviewed by a hiring committee that makes a hiring recommendation to the superintendent who makes the final hiring recommendation to the board. The committee is comprised of a member of the school’s faculty senate, the principal (chair) and a representative designated by the county superintendent. For other professionals who are not will and pleasure, the board must adopt a policy to determine the members, including at least a teacher, principal and superintendent’s designee. AFT-WV will not support one hiring criteria for new and current employees, will not support legislation that weakens seniority and the employment of improperly trained teachers.
VII. Low performing schools.
The bill establishes new benchmarks and standards for those schools identified as “low performing”. Counties will be required to establish “Early Warning Indicator and Intervention System” to analyze WVEIS data to identify at-risk students and must include interventions to increase the number of students who earn diplomas. In addition, the annual performance measures used for No Child Left Behind AYP are changed by increasing the graduation rate to 90% (currently 80%) or if less than 90%, the difference must be decreased by 1/10th per year. The bill also gives the State Superintendent the power to remove and transfer a principal within the county. AFT-WV is concerned that, for this initiative to be successful, teachers will need time for increased collaboration not only with their colleagues, but with parents and administrators. Unless increased planning and meeting time is built into the bill, it will fail. The proposal to grant the State Superintendent the ability to transfer a principal is questionable at best. This is another example of removing control from the county to the state and AFT-WV is opposed to this concept.
Simply because we do not support the Governor and State Board’s initiatives at this time, it does not mean we do not support education reform. We believe the Governor should have called all stakeholders together to develop a consensus on the best way to move education forward. Had the Governor called upon AFT-WV, we would have stressed the need to send all available dollars to the classrooms (and not to the central offices); reducing the number of county boards of education; a renewed focus by the state on disruptive behavior by students, the need for greater accountability by parents, support for wrap-around schools and an expansion of the successful innovation zones act of 2009.