Saturday, August 12, 2006

Diversified Pay

THIS IS AN OLD POST (2006)

MNEA has entered into a new collective bargaining agreement with the Board of Education. That agreement includes a pilot diversified pay plan for teachers at two Metro elementary schools. There is a trend across the country to move toward diversified pay, which can be defined as any form of pay, whether a bonus or a supplement, that goes beyond the traditional single salary schedule. Diversified pay may be given for performing specific task, gaining certain skills, or achieve pre-defined performance targets. What do you think?

The plan discussed herein was not ratified.

7 Comments:

Blogger PamArnoldBone said...

I don't think teachers who teach AP courses work any harder than I do. I teach reading, language arts, social studies, and math. I have a mostly self-contained classroom. I also work on the schedule, I go to IEP meetings, I meet with and call parents continuously...it goes on and on. I think that diversified pay based on test scores and achievement only causes resentment among those who we need to be joining with as one voice...professional educators.

6:37 PM  
Blogger MetroNEA said...

Here is the TEA Resolution:

ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION BEYOND THE SINGLE SALARY SCHEDULE

The Tennessee Education Association believes that any compensation system that provides additional compensation to education employees beyond that provided by the single salary schedule should incorporate the following principles:

The design of the system must be accomplished through the bargaining process or in non-bargaining school systems through a meet-and-confer process involving the local association and the local board of education.
Any additional compensation beyond the single salary schedule must not be based upon individual evaluations, student standardized test scores or value-added gain scores.

Additional compensation may be based upon group performance incentive or building performance incentive plans if any agreement on the implementation of such plans is preceded by majority approval of the professional personnel of the building(s).

Additional compensation may be based upon knowledge or skill-based pay systems which support and reward the acquisition of critical skills that contribute to professional competency and the overall success of the school system. In addition, all of the recognized skill or knowledge components should be supported by professional development opportunities and an objective system for assessing skill accomplishment.

Additional compensation may include financial incentives to attract and retain teachers with special qualifications and financial incentives for teachers who are willing to work in high priority schools.

Additional compensation may be based upon the recognition or designation of teachers as “lead teachers,” “mentoring teachers,” and/or “accomplished teachers.”
The compensation system should not directly or indirectly limit the number of education employees who are eligible for additional compensation. All education employees should be afforded numerous and varied opportunities to meet the requisite standards and should receive the additional compensation if they do so.
Full funding should be available to sustain the compensation system. The allocation of funds to provide the additional compensation should not prevent increases in the basic compensation for all education employees.

Adopted by the Tennessee Education Association Representative Assembly as a resolution, May 6, 2006.

9:56 AM  
Blogger MetroNEA said...

This is a member comment received after the negative vote

I'm sure the money would be approved for use if it were earmarked to be used in a rising tide to benefit "all ships". Many of us still dont understand the selection process that determined the target schools and employees. This years pay raise from Metro was a miniscule effort that was not lost on teachers in the system. Trust is an issue.

9:29 AM  
Blogger MetroNEA said...

All members WERE given an opportunity to vote. Ballots were distributed as in the past. Those who were against the plan were apparently more motivated to vote than those in favor.

MNEA has merely responded to the questions from the press. We had no control over the outcome. Such is the nature of a democracy.

The expansion of the pilot program has never been certain. It has only been used as a teaser by the Board in the last few weeks.

11:10 AM  
Blogger old2thenew said...

I'm very dissapointed in the new diversified pay plan. It sounds too much like the one that teachers voted down not to long ago. The set up is almost fail proof. Why can't every school have a pupil-teacher ratio of 16:1? Is MNEA really working for me?

5:28 AM  
Blogger old2thenew said...

I'm very dissapointed in the diversified pay plan MNEA adopted. It sounds too much like the one not approved not to long ago. How in the world could any teacher fail with a 16:1 pupil to teacher ratio? Why can't we all have those kinds of numbers? Has MNEA become too weak to fight for what they believe in? What happened to their original plan?

5:49 AM  
Blogger MetroNEA said...

Please note that this is an old posting about a plan that was not ratified.

9:14 AM  

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