Tag: Education

2016 Excellence Education Innovation Lab

Reimagining the Pipeline: Preparing PK-12 Teachers for Excellence. Thought leaders from around the state and nation gather to imagine innovative solutions for teacher recruitment and retention in North Carolina.

Teacher Raises and more under negotiation

[vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_hidrop] BY LYNN BONNER lbonner@newsobserver.com As state House and Senate negotiators prepare to work out a final budget, a lot of attention will be focused on the size of pay raises for teachers. Teacher raises turned into a major sticking point two years ago when the Senate voted for bigger raises than the  House. This year, the House proposes average teacher raises of 4.1 percent. The Senate plan would raise teacher salaries an average of 6.5 percent. There’s more going on under the hood beyond the raw numbers. The Senate plan also departs from a change made two years ago when the legislature compressed the teacher salary schedule – creating broad tiers. Under the current system, teachers with 14 years experience make as   much as teachers with nine, and teachers with  19 years experience make as much as those  with Senate plan goes back to giving teachers more for each year they work, from the third year to the 15th year. At 15 years experience, the Senate pay schedule returns to salary  tiers. Gov. Pat McCrory’s proposed salary schedule also would revert to yearly raises for most teachers. His education adviser told the State Board of Education that teachers didn’t like the new tier structure. Although House and Senate plans are different, they both give bigger percentage raises to mid- career teachers. The pay plans shortchange teachers with the most experience, said Mark Jewell, vice president of the N.C. Association of Educators. “Clearly, we are pleased the General Assembly has heard us beat the drum of the teacher shortage crisis and teacher compensation,” Jewell said. “When you look at this, it still falls short for those with the most experience,” he said. Teacher pay reliably appears as a campaign issue every two years. Even with an increase, teachers have plenty of issues to worry about, Jewell said. Schools don’t have enough textbooks, making it hard for parents to help with homework, he said. Teachers who don’t already have advanced degrees won’t get pay bumps for earning them, as they used to, and legislators want to expand the school voucher program. “They see what’s going on, and they don’t like it,” Jewell said. “I don’t think they’re going to be fooled with an election-year ploy like  this.” General Roy Cooper in the governor’s race and Democrats in four Council of State  races. But Dallas  Woodhouse, executive  director  of the state Republican Party, said pay raises will help GOP candidates going into election season. He described the increases as a result of Republican policies. “The policy of properly compensating teachers is now possible because of the strong economic policies that have turned North Carolina’s economic fortunes around by getting people off unemployment and getting people back to work,” Woodhouse said in a statement. “Teachers and state employees will not only benefit from higher pay but from the broad based middle class tax relief that has made North Carolina’s economic recovery an envy of thesouth.” Plenty of education issues are in the mix for budget negotiations. The House and Senate take different approaches to promoting early childhood literacy, increasing the supply of teachers, and principal training. On literacy The House halts a plan to hire more teachers to reduce first-grade class sizes, which would have cost about $27 million. Instead, the House spends $25 million on literacy coaches for elementary schools in the bottom fifth in performance. The House budget also cuts $10 million from summer reading camps for first- and second-graders who aren’t reading at grade level. The Senate keeps the $27 million for the additional first-grade teachers and adds another $27 million to hire more second-grade teachers to reduce class sizes by one student. The budget has $10 million to pay for a pilot program giving bonuses to top third-grade reading teachers. The legislature has focused on elementary school reading for the past four years. A law called Read to Achieve requires most students read proficiently by the end of third grade or risk retention. These different approaches offer an opportunity for legislators to talk about “which elements are going to affect third-grade literacy the most,” said Brenda Berg, president and CEO of BEST NC, a business group focused on education. Teacher pipeline Enrollment at UNC schools of education has dropped 30 percent in the last five years. Local districts say their problems with teacher recruitment extend from high school math and science down to elementary schools. The House budget includes a $2 million merit scholarship program for college students studying to become teachers in subjects such as math or science, or who plan to work in hard- to-staff schools. The Senate budget has $112,500 to reimburse 25 teacher assistants in five counties studying to become teachers. They would receive up to $4,500 a year. The budget also includes a plan for five lateral entry teacher preparation programs local school boards would administer. Principal preparation The House budget provides an additional $7.5 million to the program for school-leadership development, bringing the total to $8.5 million. The Senate eliminates that program, but would establish lab schools at UNC-system schools that have teacher training programs. The intent is to improve student achievement in districts with low-performing schools, and to provide teacher and principal training in those districts. The budget has $1 million in startup funds. STAFF WRITER COLIN CAMPBELL CONTRIBUTED Lynn Bonner: 919-829-4821, @Lynn_Bonner Click here to view Teacher raises and more under negotiation PDF [/vc_hidrop][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Investing in education is the right move for legislature- EdNC- Allen E. Gant Jr.

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_hidrop] Education transformation in North Carolina depends on our ability to attract and retain the best and brightest teachers and school leaders. That’s why we commend our elected leadership for their bold commitments to raise teacher pay. The National Education Association reports that North Carolina has raised teacher salaries faster than any other state over the last two years. More importantly, legislative leadership has made it a top priority to significantly boost not just starting pay, but pay for all early career teachers. Business leaders know that talent is the key to the success of any organization. That’s why we must continue investing in a teacher pay plan that enables every teacher to earn more, earlier in their career and compensates experienced teachers who expand their career into classroom leadership and/or hard-to-staff schools and subjects. BEST NC members believe North Carolina can have the best education system in the nation. We start by looking at the reality of today’s teaching profession. The truth is that schools are competing with other professions to retain new, talented teachers. Even though starting teacher pay was raised significantly over the last two years, teachers quickly fall behind their college graduate peers with the slow progression of our pay schedule. That is one big reason turnover is so high among younger teachers in North Carolina. The other hard reality is that we don’t compensate teachers as we do other highly-skilled professions. In most other professions, earnings potential keeps up with early career growth and includes additional opportunities for specialized skills or achievement. Currently, North Carolina teachers can’t reach top earnings until they are nearly 50 years old. No other high-skilled profession follows such a slow curve. To be clear – teaching is a highly skilled profession, requiring teachers to make complex, real time decisions to ensure students are engaged and learning. Plus, the demands of the economy require teachers to meet higher expectations and provide personalized learning for all students. We must ensure that our classroom teachers have the respect and compensation commensurate with this demanding job. Giving higher raises to early-career teachers will help recruit top talent to the profession, reduce turnover, and enable them to earn more, faster. We can continue building on these gains by compensating experienced teachers for taking on leadership roles, teaching in hard to fill subject areas or taking positions in hard to staff schools. We commend both the Governor and House leadership for prioritizing pay increases for teachers and principals in their budget proposals. The Senate pay plan that was previewed this week appears to build on those proposals, offering a multi-year commitment to a visionary plan for paying teachers commensurate with the importance and skill of their profession. About the Author: Allen E. Gant, Jr., is the chairman and CEO of Glen Raven, Inc. and a member of BEST NC. Click here to view Allen E. Gant Jr.- Investing in education PDF [/vc_hidrop][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Proposed state Senate budget ups the ante on teacher pay

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_hidrop] Posted May 25, 2016 at4:59PMUpdated May 25, 2016 at 5:03 PM By the Associated Press   RALEIGH — North Carolina Senate Republicans on Wednesday previewed their plan to pay teachers more than what Gov. Pat McCrory and House members have offered, but didn’t provide many details about how they would pay for it. Senate leader Phil Berger said the chamber is committed to raising average teacher pay— including local supplements — by several thousand dollars to more than $54,200 by the 2017-18 school year. In a frst step, the Senate’s recommended budget adjustments, to be unveiled next week, would raise the state average to slightly more than $51,000 this fall, he said. North Carolina is currently ranked 41st in the nation for teacher pay, with an estimated average salary for the current school year of $47,985, according to the National Education Association. The Senate plan, if implemented, would move North Carolina up to the middle among the states and District of Columbia, Berger said. The effort “will make North Carolina the Southeast’s leader in teacher pay and encourage the best and the brightest in the teaching profession to make a long-term commitment to our students and to our state,” Berger, R-Rockingham, said at a Legislative Building news conference. McCrory’s budget proposes raising the state’s share of teacher pay on average by 5 percent this fall, to slightly more than $50,000. The House budget, approved last week, would raise teacher salaries by 4.1 percent, not quite reaching a $50,000 average, although House Republicans said they would provide more raises next year. One-time bonuses also are included in proposals by McCrory and the House. The two chambers ultimately will work out a fnal agreement for the coming year to present to McCrory. Action on 2017-18 salaries wouldn’t occur until the next session and the next two-year budget. Berger said the Senate’s entire plan would cost $538 million over two years and not require tax increases, relying instead on a stronger economy and healthy state revenues to pay for it. Pressed for what other spending changes, if any, would be needed to carry it out, he responded: “Once you see the full budget, you’ll be able to see the details about it.” Paying for raises this year would appear trickier given that House and Senate leaders have agreed to spend no more than $22.2 billion in the new fscal year starting July 1. Meanwhile, a Senate plan to increase standard income tax deductions, also expected in the budget bill, would reduce revenues by $145 million next fscal year, compared to a reduction of $25 million in the House budget, which phases in the tax break. Under the Senate’s plan, for example, base pay for teachers with 10 years of experience would increase 6.3 percent to $42,500 this fall and to $45,000 the following year, according to a Senate Republican website referred to by Berger. The plan also envisions teachers reaching the current $50,000 maximum on the state-only teacher salary scale at 15 years of experience, compared to the current 25. “The Senate’s proposal for teachers to earn more money, faster will help recruit top talent to the profession, reduce turnover and dramatically increase career earnings,” said Brenda Berg, who runs BEST NC, a business-oriented public education advocacy group. The North Carolina Association of Educators, the state’s largest teacher lobbying group and a critic of Republican legislators, was more suspicious about a plan lacking many details. “Now, because it’s an election year, Senate leaders are trying to play catch up from the destructive swath they created for our public schools,” NCAE President Rodney Ellis said in a release. Teachers have received raises two years in a row, including a signifcant 7 percent average increase for the 2014-15 school year. But the most experienced teachers did not get permanent raises this year. Click to view Proposed state Senate budget ups the ante on teacher pay PDF [/vc_hidrop][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Promising signs on teacher pay at legislature- The Charlotte Observer- Allen E. Gant Jr.

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_hidrop] BY ALAN E. GANT JR. Gant Photo by – Steve Exum Special to the Observer Education transformation in North Carolina depends on our ability to attract and retain the best and brightest teachers and school leaders. That’s why we commend our elected leadership for their bold commitments to raise teacher pay. The National Education Association reports that North Carolina has raised teacher salaries faster than any other state over the last two years. More importantly, legislative leadership has made it a top priority to significantly boost not just starting pay, but pay for all early career teachers. Business leaders know that talent is the key to the success of any organization. That’s why we must continue investing in a teacher pay plan that enables every teacher to earn more earlier in their career and compensates experienced teachers who expand their career into classroom leadership and/or hard-to-staff schools and subjects. BEST NC members believe North Carolina can have the best education system in the nation. We start by looking at the reality of today’s teaching profession. The truth is that schools are competing with other professions to retain new, talented teachers. Even though starting teacher pay was raised significantly over the past two years, teachers quickly fall behind their college graduate peers with the slow progression of our pay schedule. That is one big reason turnover is so high among younger teachers in North Carolina. The other hard reality is that we don’t compensate teachers as we do other highly skilled professions. In most other professions, earnings potential keeps up with early career growth and includes additional opportunities for specialized skills or achievement. Currently, North Carolina teachers can’t reach top earnings until they are nearly 50 years old. No other high-skilled profession follows such a slow curve. To be clear – teaching is a highly skilled profession, requiring teachers to make complex, real-time decisions to ensure students are engaged and learning. Plus, the demands of the economy require teachers to meet higher expectations and provide personalized learning for all students. We must ensure that our classroom teachers have the respect and compensation commensurate with this demandingjob. Giving higher raises to early-career teachers   will help recruit top talent to the profession, reduce turnover, and enable them to earn more, faster. We can continue building on these gains by compensating experienced teachers for  taking on leadership roles, teaching in hard-to- fill subject areas or taking positions in hard-to- staffschools. We commend both the governor and House leadership for prioritizing pay increases for teachers and principals in their budget proposals. The Senate pay plan that was previewed Wednesday appears to build on those proposals, offering a multi-year commitment to a visionary plan for paying teachers commensurate with the importance and skill of their profession. Gant is chairman and CEO of Glen Raven, Inc. and a member of BEST NC. Click here to view Allen E. Gant Jr. -Investing in education PDF [/vc_hidrop][/vc_column][/vc_row]

‘- Facts vs-facts in education debate

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_hidrop] Facts vs. facts in education debate by Ferrel Guillory | February 26, 2016   Keith Poston and James Ford of the Public Schools Forum of NC. Photo Credit: Alex Granados/EdNC To provide more in-depth coverage on schools in North Carolina, EdNC will shortly launch the EdData Dashboard. Our editor, Mebane Rash, and her staff have produced a handsome, easy-to-use, and substantive “dashboard’’ that they will up-date quarterly. We trust you will find the data charts, graphs, and packages informative, enriching your perspectives on education in our state. We welcome your comments and suggestions. I often repeat the time-honored wisdom that “data without analysis is junk.” Yes, we have to put the facts down. But we also have to array facts, connect dots, and examine time lines to make the facts mean something by which to drive action. This week’s column examines the challenge of dealing with data.   Elections call upon voters to compare and contrast candidates in terms of personality, policy, and partisanship, as well as ability, priorities, and values. As the education issues play out in campaign 2016 in North Carolina, voters will encounter another dimension of debate: facts fighting facts. What’s an engaged citizen to do as candidates, parties, think tanks, and advocacy groups offer an array of facts, all objectively accurate but telling conflicting stories and leading to clashing conclusions about North Carolina and its schools? There’s no easy answer, except to weigh the competing facts and assess which set of statistics offer a story that adds up to reality.   Already, Gov. Pat McCrory and Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, the Republican incumbents seeking re-election, have spelled out a long list of facts in explanation and defense of the GOP record since gaining control of the governorship and the General Assembly by a veto-proof majority in 2012. The governor’s list appears under the “record of success’’ section of his campaign’s website.   Forest, who as lieutenant governor serves on the State Board of Education, has emerged as a more aggressive, and charismatic, champion of the Republican message on schools. A few days ago, he stepped before the combined Wake County Republican precinct caucuses and sought to arm party activists with data-points to counter “misinformation (that) Republicans are decimating education.” Forest also has posted three education-oriented videos, one entitled “education fast facts,’’ on his campaign website and YouTube.   Both the governor and lieutenant governor draw a contrast between the education budgets under former Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue and under Republicans since 2012. McCrory points to spending reductions of “almost $1 billion between 2008 and 2011.” Forest says Republicans have put “$1.5 billion back into education,” thus spending “more than ever in the history of North Carolina.”   As you consider those facts do so in the context of the Great Recession of 2008-09 that produced a drastic upward spike in unemployment and a downward spike in state revenues. Whoever, Democrats or Republicans, ruled in Raleigh between 2009 and 2012 would have had to slash state spending or raise taxes or both, to produce a balanced budget as the iron-clad law provides. As the economy recovered over the past three years, Republicans have appropriated more in total dollars to K-12 education. Independent analysts and advocacy groups, some of which are critics of the current administration, offer other facts. Some draw on data from before the Great Recession. Others focus on growth in enrollment.   For example, a recent report by the nonpartisan Public School Forum of North Carolina presents a state-by-state chart showing that North Carolina’s per pupil spending, adjusted for inflation, declined by $855 from fiscal 2008 to 2015, the sixth largest decline among states.   The 2016 Facts and Figures publication by BEST NC, a nonprofit formed by business leaders, reports that “North Carolina ranked 46th in the country in total K-12 per-pupil spending in 2014-15 in constant dollars, but 39th in cost of living adjusted dollars.”   The McCrory campaign website says that “in 2014 the average salary for teachers in North Carolina increased more than any other state in the nation.” A Forest video says the state’s previous leadership  had “frozen’’ teacher pay for years, then Republicans raised teacher pay an average of 11 percent.   The legislature’s website has a chart of pay raises for teachers and state employees going back to 1973-74: It shows substantial teacher pay raises before the Great Recession. Teacher pay raises averaged 8.2 percent, 5 percent, and 3 percent in the last three years of Democratic Gov. Mike Easley’s administration. Then came no pay raise for three consecutive fiscal years – “frozen’’ from 2009 to 2012 – budgets hard hit by the recession. Teachers received a 1.2 percent raise in 2012-13 and then, as the legislative staff calculated, raises ranging from .5 percent to 18.5 percent (a 7 percent average) in 2014-15.   Republican legislators have targeted raises on early-career teachers, while also revising the career “step-increase’’ pay system. The most recent pay legislation gave some experienced teachers a step increase, again increased new teachers’ pay and provided a one-time $750 raise across the board. The BEST NC report has a chart comparing North Carolina teacher compensation to the national average. In 2001, the North Carolina average was $41,496, just below the national average of $43,378. The gap widened to more than $10,000 by 2014. The latest pay raise brings North Carolina up to about $50,000, still below the national average.   The Public School Forum reports that North Carolina ranks 42nd among the states in teacher pay, up from 47th a year earlier.   In his talk to Wake Republicans, Forest declared, “Teachers are not leaving North Carolina in droves; how many of you know that?” In one of his videos, the lieutenant governor deconstructs a state report on teacher turnover to make the point that 6.8 percent of teachers fully left the profession last year, well below the 14.9 percent turnover rate widely reported. Only one percent has gone to other states, he said.   […]